Chief Justice of India SA Bobde on Monday said that the petition of one of the four death row convicts in Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, Mukesh Kumar, should be listed for an urgent hearing in view of their execution on February 1.
Mukesh, approached the Supreme Court on Saturday seeking an urgent hearing against the rejection of his mercy petition by the President of India.
The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde and comprising Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant said, “If somebody is going to be hanged on February 1, then it’s top priority, nothing can be more urgent than this”.
The warrant for execution of the death sentence has been scheduled for February 1 at 6 am. A Delhi court had issued fresh death warrants following the rejection of the mercy plea of Mukesh Singh, by President Ram Nath Kovind.
The Supreme Court had rejected curative petitions, saying that no case was made out. Mukesh then preferred a plea to the President of India.
On December 16, 2012, a paramedical student was gang-raped in a moving bus by six men in Delhi’s Munirka area. The student died at a Singapore hospital where she was airlifted for treatment. This incident triggered enormous public furore and media coverage demanding justice for the victim.
One of them, the key accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail during the pendency of the case, while the sixth was a minor at the time of commission of the crime and was let out after serving a three-year remand in a juvenile justice home