The Supreme Court of India (SC) on January 29 rejected a petition of Mukesh Kumar Singh, one of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.

Singh had filed a petition challenging the rejection of his mercy plea by the President Ram Nath Kovind on January 17.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi said that expeditious disposal of mercy plea by the President does not mean non-application of mind by him.

The court also said that alleged sufferings in prison cannot be grounds to challenge the rejection of mercy petition.

The bench said all relevant material including judgments pronounced by trial court, High Court and Supreme Court were placed before the President when he was considering the mercy plea of the convict.

The four death row convicts in the case are scheduled to be hanged at 6.00 am on February 1.

Questioning the grounds on which the clemency plea was rejected, Mukesh's lawyer had accused President Ram Nath Kovind of “non-application of mind”.

Arguing before the Supreme Court, the convict’s lawyer also alleged that all the records of the torture Mukesh was subject to were not sent to the President. Therefore, the lawyer argued, his decision to reject the mercy plea was “arbitrary and malafide”.

Mukesh had on January 28 claimed that he was sexually abused inside jail multiple times.

However, the apex court had turned down the convict’s plea to show documents to President Kovind to prove he was abused and assaulted in prison.

(With inputs from PTI)