New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the mercy petition of Akshay Kumar Singh, one of the four men facing the gallows in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, Home Ministry officials said Wednesday. Akshay filed the mercy petition before the president a few days ago.
Kovind has already rejected the clemency petition of two other accused in the case Mukesh Singh and Vinay Kumar Sharma.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as ‘Nirbhaya’ (the fearless) was gangraped and savagely assaulted on the intervening night of December 16 and 17, 2012 in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later at a Singapore hospital.
Six people — Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay, Pawan Gupta, Ram Singh and a juvenile – were named as accused.
The trial of the five adult men began in a special fast-track court in March 2013.
The prime accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in the 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. He was released in 2015 and sent to an undisclosed location amid concerns over a threat to his life. The juvenile, when released, was 20 years old.
Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay and Pawan were convicted and sentenced to death in September 2013.
PTI