Delhi court dismisses Nirbhaya convict's plea claiming innocence, refers counsel's conduct to BCI

A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by one of the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder convicts -- Mukesh Singh -- seeking quashing of death penalty claiming that he was not in Delhi when the crime was committed.

Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender rejected the petition after hearing arguments from both sides and sent the matter to the Bar Council of India for appropriate sensitization observing that the conduct of the counsel for the convict needs to be brought to notice.

The prosecution, during the hearing, had accused the defence of making a "mischievous attempt" to stall the death sentence scheduled on March 20.

The court observed that some mischievous brains have been projecting and consciously nurturing a misplaced notion that there is a premium over dishonesty in this country.

It said that the court is of the considered opinion that the authorities involved in the dispensation of justice are duty-bound to dispel such ill-founded notion.

"The learned members of the Bar appearing before the court are duty-bound to render full cooperation and assistance to the court to ensure that justice is delivered expeditiously to the litigants without any unnecessary delay," the court said.

"In these circumstances, I deem it appropriate that the conduct of the counsel for the convict needs to be brought to the notice of the Bar Council of India for appropriate sensitization," the court added.

The court said that the duty cannot be extended to the extent of procuring relief to the client by resorting to all kinds of schemes and stratagems.

Advocate ML Sharma, appearing for Mukesh Singh, had claimed that the convict was arrested from Karoli in Rajasthan on December 17, 2012, and that the prosecution has fraudulently withheld the documentation carried out by Delhi and Rajasthan police with respect to the apprehension.

This comes as the four convicts in the 2012 case -- Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh Thakur, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma -- are scheduled to be hanged at 5:30 am on March 20.

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.