Nirbhaya gangrape case convict Pawan Kumar Gupta's curative petition dismissed by SC

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court today dismissed the curative petition filed by Pawan Kumar Gupta, a death row convict in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.

"The application for an oral hearing is rejected. The application for stay of execution of the death sentence is also rejected. The Curative Petition is dismissed in terms of the signed order," Justice NV Ramana, said in an order.

The five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice NV Ramana also consists 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 the 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 remaining three.

This comes as a lower court issued a fresh death warrant 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 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.