Nirbhaya: Centre seeks dismissal of convict's plea, says ill-treatment in prison no ground for mercy
New Delhi: The Centre Tuesday sought dismissal of the plea of one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case against rejection of his mercy plea and said that being ill-treated in prison cannot be a ground for mercy to one who has committed such a heinous crime.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi that the convict, Mukesh Kumar Singh, was not kept in solitary confinement as alleged and no ground of commutation has been made out.
Mehta told the bench, also comprising justices Ashok Bhsuhan and A S Bopanna, that the entire material was sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs to President for deciding mercy plea of Singh.
He also told the bench that the power of judicial review of the apex court is very limited in such cases and said the delay in deciding his mercy plea would have a dehumanising impact.
President has to satisfy himself regarding pardon and not look into each procedure, Mehta told the bench adding that the President is not sitting in appeal against judgements of all courts in the case.
The top court questioned Singh as to how he can allege "non application of mind" by the President in rejecting his mercy petition and claim that all facts were not placed before the President when he dealt with the mercy plea.
"How can you say that these facts were not placed before his excellency the President? How can you say that there was non-application of mind by the President," the bench asked senior advocate Anjana Prakash.
When the convict's counsel said that all facts were not placed before the President, Mehta told the bench that all the records, exhibits and the judgment in the case were placed before the President.
Singh alleged procedural lapses in dismissal of his mercy plea by the President.
He said that certain supervening circumstances, including solitary confinement and procedural lapses have been ignored while considering his mercy plea.
His counsel contended that the executive is not sitting on power of appeal but rather exercising constitutional duty, which is neither a matter of mercy nor grace.
Prakash referred to judgements on death sentence and the power of the president to grant mercy.
He also told the court that the President's rejection of the mercy plea was on extraneous consideration as also mala fide, arbitrary and without materials.
The bench was hearing Singh's plea against the dismissal of his mercy petition by President Ram Nath Kovind on January 17. He has sought an urgent hearing on his plea against the dismissal of the mercy plea.
The trial court has issued black warrants for the execution of all the four convicts -- Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar -- at 6 am on February 1.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" (the fearless), was gang-raped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.
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Woman throws speech-disabled child into crocodile infested river in Karnataka
Uttara Kannada: A 26-year-old woman allegedly threw her six-year-old disabled son into a crocodile infested river at Dandeli taluk in this district following a quarrel with her husband, police said on Sunday.
The couple often fought with each other over the condition of their elder son, who is speech-disabled since birth. They have another two-year-old son, they said.
Savitri's husband Ravi Kumar used to frequently quarrel with her over elder son's disability and questioned her as to why she gave birth to such a child. On certain occasions, he used to allegedly tell her to "throw the child away", police said.
According to the police, following a fight over the same matter on Saturday evening, frustrated Savitri allegedly threw her elder son into a waste canal directly linked to the Kali river which is infested with crocodiles.
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The neighbours alerted the police. They reached the spot and with the help of locals and divers, conducted a search operation to rescue the child. However, since it was dark, the police could not find the child.
On Sunday morning, the police managed to retrieve the body of the child with severe injuries, bite marks across the body and a missing hand indicating that the child was the victim of a crocodile attack, a police officer said.
The body was sent for post mortem to ascertain the exact cause of death, police said, adding a further investigation into the matter is underway.
"We have registered a case at Dandeli Rural Police station under section 109 and 302 of the Indian Penal Code and arrested both husband and wife in connection with the incident," the officer said.
