The Supreme Court has rejected the request of Nirbhaya case death-row convict Vinay Sharma to peruse recommendation for rejection of his mercy plea. Rejecting the plea, a bench of Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna today said, the Delhi lieutenant Governor and the Home Minister indeed signed the recommendation for rejection of his mercy petition.

Sharma moved the apex court on Tuesday challenging the rejection of his mercy petition by the President alleging that the LG and its Home Minister had not signed the recommendation for rejection of his mercy plea.

The Supreme Court today deferred the hearing on Centre’s plea seeking separate execution of four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case till tomorrow. A bench comprising of Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna asked the convicts to file their counter replies by tomorrow.

The apex court also appointed senior advocate Anjana Prakash as amicus curiae to represent the convict Pawan Kumar Gupta. The top court said, it is deferring the hearing in the wake of a trial court order directing the District Legal Services Authority to provide Gupta’s father with a list of its empanelled advocates to choose from to represent the convict. Gupta is the only convict who has not yet filed a curative petition