Delhi court reserves order on Nirbhaya convict's application claiming insanity

A Delhi court on Saturday reserved its order on the application filed by one of the death row convicts, Vinay Sharma, in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, claiming insanity and seeking high-level medical treatment.

Additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana reserved the order after hearing arguments from both the sides in the matter.

Advocate AP Singh, representing Vinay Sharma, alleged foul play by the Tihar Jail authorities and sought the court's direction to call for CCTV footage of February 18. He claimed that Vinay's arm was fractured and that there was a plaster on his arm when he met with him on the day.

If the mental illness had been properly treated, the health condition of the convict would have been better, he added.

Singh also broke down in the court during the arguments and said that everybody was making a mockery of him outside when he was only discharging his duty towards the Constitution of India.

Public prosecutor Irfan Ahmad, appearing for Tihar Jail, stated that AP Singh had made wrong submissions that Vinay's hand was fractured and said that there was no fracture or plaster on his hand.

Ahmad also stated that convict Vinay Sharma had made two phone calls recently to his mother and his lawyer and asked why was his lawyer claiming that Vinay was not in a position to identify his mother.

The court had, on Thursday, issues a notice to Tihar Jail seeking a report from it on the application which sought high-level medical treatment for Vinay, who according to the application sustained a "grievous head injury, fracture in his right arm, insanity, mental illness, and Schizophrenia".

"Yesterday, at the time of a legal meeting with counsel and convict, and family meeting with the convict, it was a very serious matter that the convict -- Vinay Sharma -- could not identify his counsel and mother in jail," the application said.

Meanwhile, a fresh death warrant has been issued for the four death row convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, and Mukesh Singh -- in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case for their hanging at 6 am on March 3.

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 Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.