Delhi bus gang rapist demands mercy because he was sexually abused in jail

A man due to be executed this week for the fatal gang rape of a female student in Delhi in 2012 says he deserves mercy because he has been sexually abused in jail. 

Mukesh Singh, one of four men scheduled to be hanged Saturday, is trying to apply for mercy to India’s president for a second time after an earlier appeal was rejected.

Lawyers for Singh argue that President Ram Nath Kovind’s decision to reject his mercy bid was ‘arbitrary’ and made in bad faith because he was not aware of all of the facts in the case.

Attorney Anjana Prakash said Mr Kovind was not told that Singh had been ‘repeatedly sexually abused’ inside jail and kept for a time in solitary confinement.

Vinay Sharma

Mukesh Singh (left), sentenced to hang on Saturday for the fatal gang rape of a student in 2012, is applying for mercy from the sentence for a second time because he was sexually abused in jail. He already lost an initial appeal, which he made alongside Vinay Sharma (right)

Pawan Gupta

Akshay Kumar Singh

Pawan Gupta (left) and Akshay Kumar Singh (right) were also sentenced to death in 2013 after gang-raping Jyoti Singh on a Delhi bus the previous December

‘You are playing with somebody’s life. You have to apply your mind,’ she told the court according to NDTV.

But Solicitor General Tushar Mehta hit back, saying that suffering in jail cannot be considered grounds for mercy.

He also refuted that Singh had been kept in solitary , saying that he was housed in an ordinary cell on his own which ‘can’t be equated with solitary confinement’.

Singh was originally scheduled to be hanged at Tahir jail on January 22, alongside fellow rapists Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh and Pawan Gupta.

But he applied for mercy to President Kovind along with Sharma in a bid to escape execution that was rejected two weeks ago.

Under Indian law, guilty men must be informed of their execution date 14 days ahead of time, forcing executioners to move the date.

The Supreme Court will announce its decision on the new petition tomorrow.

If the petition is rejected then the current execution date will stand, but if it is accepted then the execution will be delayed again.  

Victim Jyoti Singh, 23, was attacked in December 2012 while returning home after visiting the cinema with a male friend.

The victim's parents Asha Devi and Badri Singh are pictured at the Supreme Court in New Delhi in 2018

The victim’s parents Asha Devi and Badri Singh are pictured at the Supreme Court in New Delhi in 2018

Her assailants took turns to rape and violate her with a metal rod as the bus drove around the capital, before dumping her and the beaten-up friend on the road.

Singh died of her injuries nearly a fortnight after the attack – in Singapore, where she had been flown for specialist treatment.

Tens of thousands of Indians took to the streets in protest, and the case led to a major overhaul of laws surrounding sexual assault.

It also spawned an award-winning documentary as well as a Netflix series. 

Six people were originally arrested for the crime, with one sentenced to three years in jail in 2013 – the maximum sentence available since he was a juvenile.

Another of the accused died in jail from suspected hanging as he awaited trial. 

The remaining four men were found guilty and sentenced to death in 2013. 

The case sparked fresh attention on rape cases in India, which is often ranked as the world’s most dangerous country for women. 

A slew of recent cases show that the problem is far from over. 

A woman in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was doused with gasoline and set on fire by five men, including two she had accused of gang rape and who were out on bail, on her way to attend a court hearing in her case last year.

She died earlier this month at a hospital in New Delhi.

Jyoti's mother, Asha Devi, can be seen weeping in front of the courthouse in New Delhi in 2013

Jyoti’s mother, Asha Devi, can be seen weeping in front of the courthouse in New Delhi in 2013

The harrowing case caused a surge of protest movements across India with women coming out across the country to report their own experiences of sexual violence

The harrowing case caused a surge of protest movements across India with women coming out across the country to report their own experiences of sexual violence 

The burned body of a 27-year-old veterinarian was found in late November near the city of Hyderabad in southern India.

Police later fatally shot four men being held on suspicion of raping and killing the woman after investigators took them to the crime scene. 

It drew praise from people frustrated by the pace of the 2012 New Delhi case and condemnation from those who said it undermined the courts’ role. Earlier this week, it was reported that a 19-year-old was choked unconscious, raped and sexually assaulted with an iron rod in India, in echoes of the Delhi bus attack.

The accused, Yogilal Rahangdale, 52, who works as a supervisor at the spinning mill where the victim is employed, also lived with the woman, her brother and another woman at rented accommodation in the Pardi area in Nagpur.

On the night of January 21, the other two had gone out and this is when the teenager says that Rahangdale assaulted her.

When she resisted, Rahangdale stuffed a wad of cloth into her mouth and she fell unconscious. He is then alleged to have raped her and inserted an iron rod into her private parts. 

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