The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the petition of death-row convict Vinay Kumar Sharma challenging the rejection of the mercy petition by President Kovind.

Meanwhile, Centre and Delhi governments had filed a plea seeking separate execution of the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case convicts.

A bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna asked the convicts to file their counter replies by Friday.
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.