Nirbhaya case: Convict Pawan Gupta files curative petition in SC

Pawan Gupta, one of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, on Friday filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court seeking to have his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

Gupta is the fourth convict in the case to file a curative petition.

This comes as a fresh death warrant has been issued for the four death row convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh -- in the case for their hanging at 6 am on March 3.

The family of the victim has on several occasions accused the defence of using delay tactics by separately filing the curative, special leave and mercy petitions.

The Delhi High Court has ruled that according to existing laws, the convicts cannot be executed separately. Which means that as long as even one of them has a legal remedy at his disposal, the hanging of the four cannot take place.

Meanwhile, the apex court has slated for March 5 hearing on a petition, filed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, seeking directions to execute the death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case separately.

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.