One of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, Vinay Sharma, approached the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the rejection of his mercy petition by the President.
Vinay, through his counsel A P Singh, has also sought commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment.
Tuesday marks the last day of the week’s time granted by the Delhi High Court to the Nirbhaya convicts to exhaust legal remedies available to them against the death sentence.
Vinay has claimed in his petition that he has suffered significant “psychological trauma” because of cruel and inhuman treatment, torture in prison, and being kept in solitary confinement which is a violation of norms. He has alleged that he has mental health and behavioural issues due to depression, anxiety and adjustment disorders.
President Ram Nath Kovind had on February 1 rejected the clemency plea of Vinay.
The trial court had on January 31 stayed "till further orders" execution of the four convicts in the case -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31), who are lodged in Tihar Jail.
Pawan has not yet filed a curative petition -- the last and final legal remedy available to a person which is decided in-chamber. Pawan also has the option of filing a mercy plea.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya' (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.
Six people including the four convicts, 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.
Ram Singh, the prime accused, allegedly died by suicide at 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.
The juvenile was released in 2015 and sent to an undisclosed location amid concerns over a threat to his life. He, when released, was 20 years old.
Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay and Pawan were sentenced to death in September 2013 by the trial court.
(PTI inputs)