President rejects mercy petition of Nirbhaya gang rape convict Pawan Gupta

President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the mercy petition of Pawan Kumar Gupta, one of the four men facing the gallows in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, officials said on Wednesday (March 4).

“The mercy petition of Pawan has been rejected by the President,” a Home ministry official said.

A total of six people — Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Ram Singh and a juvenile — were convicted in the gang rape and murder of the paramedic student here.

Pawan Gupta was the last among the four convicts to file a mercy petition with the President. The President has already rejected the mercy petitions of Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay. The four of them have exhausted all legal options available to them after the death warrants were issued.

While Ram Singh had committed suicide in jail, the juvenile was released from a remand home after completion of his three-year term.

A 23-year-old woman paramedic student, who came to be known as Nirbhaya (‘The Fearless’) was gang-raped and savagely assaulted in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012. She succumbed to injuries on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore where she was taken for better medical treatment.

(With inputs from agencies)