Nirbhaya case: Death row convict moves SC for curative plea to be heard in open court

One of death row convicts in Nirbhaya case, Pawan Gupta, has moved the Supreme Court on Sunday seeking a direction that his curative petition should be heard in an open court as the matter is related to the death penalty, said AP Singh, convict's lawyer.

"The apex court had on Saturday fixed the curative petition for a hearing on Monday at 10.25 am in a chamber by a five-judge bench, headed by Justice N V Ramana. Pawan had filed the curative petition before the top court on Friday, seeking its direction to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment," Singh told ANI.

The five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice NV Ramana will also consist of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice RF Nariman, Justice R Banumathi and Justice Ashok Bhushan.

Gupta had on Friday filed a curative petition before the apex court seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment. He is the fourth convict in the case to file a curative petition. The Supreme Court has already rejected the curative petitions of the rest three.

This comes as a fresh death warrant has been issued for the four convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh, which orders their hanging at 6 am on March 3 at Delhi's Tihar Jail.

Meanwhile, the apex court has also slated for March 5 hearing on a petition filed by Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), seeking directions to separately execute the convicts.

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.