Nirbhaya Case: President Dismisses Convict Vinay Sharma's Mercy Plea

Media reports stated that President Ram Nath Kovind, On Saturday, dismissed a mercy petition filed by Vinay Sharma, a convict on the death row sentenced to hanging in the gruesome Nirbhaya case of 2012. This is a breaking story and will be updated once more news comes in.

Justice Dharmendra Rana of Patiala House Court, on Friday, postponed the execution of the three convicts, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Singh and Pawan Gupta till further orders.

One of the reasons cited by lawyers and human rights' activists arguing for the four convicts in the case, Mukesh Singh, Dinesh Sharma, Akshay Singh and Pawan Gupta, was that they should be hanged together since they were sentenced as co-accused in the case. Lawyers also argued on behalf of the convicts that Vinay Sharma's mercy petition was pending before the President of India and hence the execution could not be carried out on Saturday as had been scheduled earlier.

The President of India had earlier dismissed the plea for mercy filed by Mukesh.

The Supreme Court, on Friday, dismissed the plea of one convict on the death row in the Nirbhaya case, Pawan Gupta, who claimed that he had been a minor at the time of the commission of the crime.