Nirbhaya case: Another death row convict Vinay moves mercy plea before President

Advocate A P Singh, who represents Vinay, said the death row convict has stated that he feels that he has "died several times already" in prison during pendency of judicial proceedings.

The lawyer has filed the mercy petition with the President House and has got a receiving on it.

"I have filed mercy petition for Vinay before the President. I have submitted it by hand," Singh told PTI.

The apex court has already rejected the curative petition of Vinay.

Before Vinay, another death row convict Mukesh Kumar Singh had filed the mercy plea which was rejected by the President on January 17.

The apex court Wednesday dismissed plea filed by Mukesh challenging the rejection of his mercy petition.

In his mercy plea, Vinay has said, "I am submitting this mercy petition to your Excellency with the hope that your good self will listen to my story when nobody did.

"Sir, this is the last chance I have to tell how the terrible circumstances of the fateful day, December 16, 2012, which caused so much pain and suffering to everyone involved and many others, changed my life forever."

Referring to his family background, Vinay said, "I want to tell you all this so that you can decide whether death is the only punishment that I deserve."

The plea discusses the plight of Nirbhaya and her family and then Vinay says his side of story after being arrested and awarded death penalty in the case.

"Sir, the way I have been treated since my arrest, I feel that I have died several times already. Therefore, I want to take my last opportunity to speak about this. I hope that after you read what my life has been, you will show mercy on me.

"The first day itself, when I was admitted in jail, I was beaten up badly by the on duty Tamil Nadu special police personnel," Vinay said in the mercy plea, adding, "Later, a group of 15-20 inmates thrashed me badly".

He has also alleged that he and other convicts in the Nirbhaya case were brutally tortured and one of them was also sexually abused in the jail.

Along with the mercy plea, Vinay has also annexed his hand written letter addressed to the President.

The 23-year-old woman, who came to be known as 'Nirbhaya', the fearless one, 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.

The trial court on January 17 issued black warrants for the second time for the execution of all the four convicts -- Mukesh (32), Pawan Gupta  (25), Vinay (26) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) -- in Tihar jail at 6 am on February 1. The court earlier on January 7 fixed January 22 as the hanging date.