After all the options coming close to an end, one of the Nirbhaya gang-rape convicts on Thursday moved the Election Commission of India to challenge the rejection of his mercy petition.
Vinay Sharma’s lawyer AP Singh told the poll body that the Model Code of Conduct was in place when Minister Manish Sisodia rejected the convict’s plea for grant of mercy. He claimed that this made him ‘ineligible’ to quash the plea.
He further argued that the digital signatures of Sisodia were needed on the plea but instead, a WhatsApp screenshot was sent out.
According to the rules, the mercy petition was further forwarded by the Delhi government to the Lt Governor, and finally to the President of India who rejects or accepts it.
Earlier in the day, Sharma moved a Delhi court seeking direction to the prison authorities to provide high-level medical treatment to him.
The Patiala House Court has sought a report on the same from the jail authorities and fixed the matter for further hearing on February 22.
The application, moved through his lawyer AP Singh, has mentioned that Vinay Sharma, 26, sustained a grievous head injury, fracture in the right arm and suffers from mental illness and schizophrenia. It has further asked the court to refer the convict to the Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences (IHBAS) in Delhi.
Earlier, a Tihar jail official had stated that Vinay had attempted to hurt himself by banging his head against a wall in his cell, on February 16 following which he received minor injuries. Security personnel reportedly saw him and stopped him.