Gautam Gambhir: 'Judicial system needs reformation, rapists shouldn't get mercy pleas'

BJP leader and MP from Delhi, Gautam Gambhir has stated that there is an urgent need for the reformation of the judicial system in the country and that the judgement by the fast track courts should be passed within a month that should be final. He added that there should be no scope of filing mercy petition by the convicts. Speaking to media outside the parliament, Gambhir said that if the accused of Hyderabad rape and murder case were trying to escape then police has done the right thing, adding that rapists, however, should be given punishment in the court of law.

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Mercy plea by one of the Nirbhaya convicts

One of the five convicts Vinay Sharma had filed a mercy plea which was rejected by the Delhi government. Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal sent the file rejecting the mercy plea to the Home Ministry earlier this week. The file has been forwarded to President for his final decision. The president will decide on the plea in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Delhi government reiterated that there should be no provision of mercy petitions for child rapists. The President said, "Women safety is a serious issue. Rape convicts under the POCSO Act should not have the right to file mercy petition. Parliament should review mercy petitions."

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Vinay Sharma, one of the convicts of the brutal Nirbhaya rape case is facing the death sentence for the rape and murder of a 23-year-old girl and had filed a mercy plea before the President. In December 2012, a 23-year-old paramedic student now known as Nirbhaya was brutally gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi. She later succumbed to her injuries in a Singapore hospital. The brutal incident had sparked nationwide outrage.

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(with ANI inputs)