The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape convict Pawan Kumar Gupta. Pawan along with three other convicts in the case is scheduled to be hung on 1st February 2020.
Dismissing Pawan’s SPL the apex judiciary said that it did not find any fresh ground in the matter. Pawan has claimed that he was a juvenile at the time of crime,& the Delhi High Court had ignored this fact.
The Delhi court had earlier ordered the hanging of all the four convicts on 22nd January. However, the Delhi government expressed their inability to do so as one of the convict Mukesh Singh had filed for mercy petition with the President of India.
Mukesh’s mercy plea was rejected by the President on Friday. After the cancellation of the mercy plea, the Delhi court issued fresh death warrants for the execution of the four convicts on February 1st At 6 AM.
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Mukes, however, can still file the mercy petition before February 1. Each time a mercy petition is filed and rejected a 14-day period must be observed, thereby prolonging the execution. The convicts are filing mercy petition one by one in an attempt to extend the execution date.
