President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday (February 1) rejected a mercy petition filed by Vinay Sharma, one of four convicts on death row in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case, Home Ministry officials said. This is the second mercy plea to be rejected by President Kovind in the 2012 Delhi gangrape case.
Initially, the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case were to be hanged at the Tihar Jail on February 1 at 6:00 am. The Tihar Jail authorities had also brought Pawan Jallad, a third-generation hangman from Meerut to carry out the execution.
On January 31, the jail authorities also performed a dummy execution of the four men ahead of the actual hanging. However, later in the day, a Delhi court stayed the execution of all the four Nirbhaya rape convicts until further orders.