President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday (December 6)said that rape convicts under POCSO Act should not have the right to file mercy petition. The president made this comment while speaking at an event in Sirohi Rajasthan.

Ram Nath Kovind's comment comes in the backdrop of all four accused in the Hyderabad rape and murder case being killed in an encounter on Friday morning.

Notably, all the four accused in the Hyderabad rape and murder case were killed by the police when they tried to escape while being taken to the crime spot.The encounter took place at the crime scene inShadnagar, around 60 km from Hyderabad. The police had taken the accused -Mohammed, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu - forre-construction of events as part of the investigation, but they tried toescape from the spot besides attacking the police. They reportedly tried tosnatch weapons from the police officials, after which, the police, inself-defence, opened fire on them. They were gunned down at the same spot wherethe accused had dumped the victim`s body and set it afire on the night of November27.In the Nirbhaya gang-rape case, however, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)on Friday forwarded the mercy petition of one convict to the President. The MHAhas endorsed Delhi L-G Anil Baijal's view that the mercy plea should berejected.

The MHA took the decision days after the Delhi government"strongly recommended" to reject the mercy petition filed by one of the convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape-murder case, Vinay Sharma.

Earlier, Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain had sent thefile to Lt Governor Anil Baijal with the state government's recommendation inthe case.

Sharma, who had filed a mercy petition before President RamNath Kovind, is currently languishing in Tihar Jail while the other threeconvicts had refused to file the mercy plea.

The 23-year-old Nirbhaya was raped on the intervening nightof December 16-17, 2012 by six persons inside a moving bus. She was brutallyassaulted before being thrown out on the road. Nirbhaya passed away on December29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where she was airlifted fortreatment.