Matters concerning execution of a person is "top priority", CJI SA Bobde on Nirbhaya convict Mukesh's plea

Matters pertaining to execution are of top priority, the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde observed today. The remark by the CJI Bobde was made when a plea filed by one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case, Mukesh, was mentioned for early listing today..While directing Mukesh's Counsel to mention the plea before the mentioning registrar, CJI Bobde remarked, that if a person is to be hanged on February 1, the matter is of "top priority"..Mukesh, along with three other convicts, is scheduled to be hanged on February 1 at 6AM. Mukesh, in exercise of his legal remedies, moved the Supreme Court after his mercy plea was rejected by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind..The plea was mentioned before the Bench of CJI SA Bobde with Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant. .Mukesh had preferred a mercy plea before the President soon after the dismissal of his curative petition by the Supreme Court..The mercy filed along with all the relevant documents as well as Mukesh's medical records since the day of his arrest are also sought to be produced before the Supreme Court in this petition moved by him. He also seeks for an inspection of all these documents and records..Mukesh, who is allegedly placed in solitary confinement at the moment, has also prayed for the same to be ended and has prayed for his transfer from solitary confinement to a general barrack adding further that the records of his incarceration and the records of his solitary confinement should also be put on record before the Court..On January 7, the warrant to execute the death penalty for all four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case was issued by Additional Sessions Judge at the Patiala House Court of Delhi, Satish Arora. As per the warrant, the four convicts were to be hanged to death on January 22 at 7AM in Delhi's Tihar Jail..On December 16, 2012, six men in Delhi had brutally gang-raped a young woman, later named ‘Nirbhaya’, in a moving bus. The victim succumbed to her injuries two weeks later at a hospital in Singapore. The six accused were apprehended by the police..Of the six accused, the main accused committed suicide in Tihar jail during the course of the trial and the juvenile accused was sentenced to three years in a remand home upon conviction. The remaining four were handed a death penalty by the Additional Sessions Judge..The four convicts had then approached the Delhi High Court in appeal. After the High Court upheld the lower court verdict, the Supreme Court too upheld the death penalty in May 2017 In July 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed review petitions filed by three of the accused i.e Mukesh, Vinay and Pawan. The fourth convict, Akshay's review petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court in December last year. .Curative petitions by two of the convicts, Mukesh and Vinay Sharma, were rejected by the Court on January 14.On January 17, a Delhi Court had issued a death warrant against the four convicts scheduling their execution for February 1 at 6AM.