Mukesh Singh, one of the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, on Tuesday moved a Delhi court seeking quashing of his death sentence on the pretext that he was not present in the national capital when the crime took place on December 16 that year.
In support of his contention, Mukesh submitted that he was arrested from Rajasthan and brought to Delhi on December 17, 2012, a day after the incident.
He also claimed torture in the Tihar Central Jail, where he is currently lodged. The application on his behalf was moved by advocate M.L. Sharma.
Earlier, three of four convicts in the case approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking a stay on the execution of their death sentence, news agency ANI reported.
The three convicts who approached the ICJ are Akshay, Pawan and Vinay.
It has come shortly after the Supreme Court ordered the petition filed by convict Mukesh Singh seeking action against his former lawyer Vrinda Grover to be withdrawn.
Mukesh Singh, appealed in the Supreme Court seeking restoration of all his legal remedies, alleging that his lawyers had misled him.
The plea moved through advocate ML Sharma, had asked for a CBI probe into alleged “criminal conspiracy” hatched by the Centre along with Delhi government and Vrinda Grover, who was amicus curiae in the case.
All the four convicts are scheduled to be hanged on March 20 at 5.30 am after a trial court in Delhi issued fresh death warrants for the fourth time.
Another plea is pending before the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi High Court’s order which said death row convicts cannot be hanged separately, on March 20.
A 23-year-old paramedical student, who came to be known as “Nirbhaya”, was gang-raped and assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died a fortnight later at a hospital in Singapore.
Six people, including the four convicts, Ram Singh and a juvenile were named as accused.
The trial of the five men began in a special fast-track court in March 2013.
Ram Singh, the prime accused, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Tihar jail days after the trial began. The juvenile, who was said to be the most brutal of the attackers, was put in a correctional home for three years.
The juvenile was released in 2015 and sent to an undisclosed location amid concerns over a threat to his life. He, when released, was 20 years old.
The trial of the four adults began in a special fast-track court in March 2013 and they were sentenced to death in September 2013 by the trial court.