New Delhi, Aug. 24 -- The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Kerala government to respond to a plea filed by death-row convict Muhammed Ameer-Ul-Islam seeking his transfer from Viyyur Central Prison in Kerala to a prison in Assam, where his wife and elderly parents reside.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu asked Kerala to file its response on the transfer of the petitioner to an Assam jail.

The apex court was hearing Ameer-Ul-Islam's plea in connection with the 2016 rape and murder of a Dalit law student in Perumbavoor, Keralam. He is the sole accused convicted and sentenced to death in the case.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for Ameer-Ul-Islam, said that ordinarily, a death-row prisoner cannot be transferred u...