‘Don’t Give us Death Penalty, Air Pollution Kills us Anyway,’ Nirbhaya Convict Tells Supreme Court in Review Plea

The development comes at a time when the Tihar Jail is looking for a hangman to hang the convicts of the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case which had sent shockwaves across the country in 2012.

New Delhi: As preparations are underway in Tihar jail for the execution of all four convicts of the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, Akshay Kumar, one of the convicts of the case, on Tuesday filed a mercy petition in Supreme Court, urging the top court not to give him the death penalty as his life in the national capital is getting shorter because of air and water pollution.

Nirbhaya case: One of the convicts in the case, Akshay Kumar Singh, has filed review petition before the Supreme court. Akshay was sentenced to death by a trial court in the case. His sentence was upheld by Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

— ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2019

The development comes at a time when the Tihar Jail is looking for a hangman to hang the convicts of the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case which had sent shockwaves across the country in 2012.

Notably, another convict Vinay Sharma, whose mercy plea was last week rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind following the recommendation from the Ministry of Home Affairs, has on Monday asked to withdraw his mercy plea.

On Tuesday, Akshay Kumar Singh filed a fresh petition before the Supreme Court and asked the top court to review his mercy plea. He was sentenced to death by a trial court in the case. His sentence was upheld by Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

In the review petition, he has argued that he was wrongly convicted and many countries in the world have abolished capital punishment.

Akshay was convicted in the gang-rape case along with Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma. As per the earlier order from the Supreme Court, all four of them have been awarded the death penalty. Prior to this, Mukesh, Pawan, and Vinay had also filed review petitions in the top court, asking it to reconsider their penalty. However, the pleas were later rejected by the top court.

In another development, two people – one from Shimla and another from Tamil Nadu – have in separate letters urged President Ram Nath Kovind to appoint them as a temporary hangman in Tihar jail to hang the convicts and to give speedy justice to the Nirbhaya rape case.