2012 Delhi gang-rape: 3rd death row convict, Akshay Thakur, files mercy petition

Akshay Thakur, the third of the four death row convicts at Tihar jail, has filed a mercy petition to President Ram Nath Kovind. News of Akshay Thakur's request for a presidential pardon emerged minutes after Home Ministry officials confirmed that President Kovind had rejected the mercy plea filed by Vinay Sharma, another convict in the Delhi gang rape case. Akshay Thakur is the third convict to have approached Rashtrapati Bhavan. The mercy petitions have insulated the death row convicts from execution so far and led a Delhi court to twice freeze the death warrant that had been issued, first to carry out the death sentence on January 22 and next, on February 1.