Source:- indialegallive.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Supreme Court on Thursday will hear the curative petition filed \nby Akshay Singh, a convict in the Nirbhaya rape-murder case, challenging\n his execution. He is the third convict of this case to challenge his \nhanging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A five-judge bench comprising Justices NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, \nRohinton Nariman, R Banumathi, and Ashok Bhushan will hear the curative \npetition at 1pm today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by\n one of the four Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder convicts, Mukesh Kumar \nSingh, challenging the rejection of his mercy petition by the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna\n had on Tuesday reserved the order after hearing the death-row convict\u2019s\n lawyer Anjana Prakash, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prakash, a former Patna High Court judge, submitted that due \nconsideration to the mercy plea was not given by the President and it \nwas rejected shortly after the curative petition was dismissed by the \nSupreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the arguments, Justice Banumathi asked Prakash as to how she \ncould claim that all the facts in the case were not placed before the \nPresident when he dealt with the mercy plea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow can you say that these facts were not placed before the \nPresident? How can you say that there was non-application of mind by the\n President,\u201d the judge asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Countering the convict\u2019s counsel, Mehta told the bench that all the \nrecords, exhibits and the judgment in the case were placed before the \nPresident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The petition has alleged that certain supervening circumstances, \nincluding solitary confinement and procedural lapses had been ignored \nwhile considering his mercy plea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prakash cited the apex court\u2019s decision by a five-judge bench in \nKehar Singh v. Union of India case, where it was said that even \ndecisions by the President are fallible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She argued that even the most trained minds sometimes falter. Due \nconsideration must be given when it comes to matters concerning denial \nof liberty and life, the senior counsel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe President\u2019s power to pardon is within the scheme of the \nConstitution and must be exercised with great responsibility. The \nPresident\u2019s order to reject mercy plea is mala fide, suffers from \narbitrariness and is passed without any application of mind,\u201d Prakash \nsubmitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She claimed, \u201cSolitary confinement can be done only after rejection \nof mercy petition and placing a convict in solitary confinement prior to\n rejection of mercy plea is unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prakash also claimed Mukesh Singh was \u201crepeatedly sexually abused in \njail\u201d. But Mehta countered her saying, \u201cSufferings in the prison can\u2019t \nbe a ground for mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The convict had approached the apex court on Saturday, seeking an \nurgent hearing against the rejection of his mercy petition by President \nRam Nath Kovind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On January 17, a Delhi court had fixed the hanging of the four \nNirbhaya case convicts \u2014 Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and \nAkshay Kumar \u2013 for February 1 at 6 am in Tihar jail in the national \ncapital, a day after the rejection of the mercy plea of Mukesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chief Justice SA Bobde had on Monday said the petition filed by \nMukesh should be listed for urgent hearing in view of their scheduled \nexecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hearing of the plea was fixed after Chief Justice Bobde had \ndirected that the plea be mentioned before the officer concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Supreme Court had rejected curative petitions of two of the \nconvicts \u2013 Mukesh and Vinay, saying that no case was made out. Mukesh \nthen moved the mercy plea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On December 16, 2012, a paramedical student was gang-raped in a \nmoving bus and brutally assaulted by six men in Delhi\u2019s Munirka area. \nThe student died at a Singapore hospital two weeks later where she was \nairlifted for treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key accused in the case, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed \nsuicide in Tihar Jail during the pendency of the case, while the sixth \nwas a minor at the time of the crime and was let out after serving a \nthree-year remand at a reform home.<\/p>\n