SC dismisses plea challenging earlier order rejecting juvenility claim

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the petition of death row convicts in Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, Pawan Gupta, challenging its earlier order which dismissed his juvenile plea.

The apex court had, on January 20, rejected Gupta's petition challenging a Delhi High Court order, which dismissed his claim of being a juvenile at the time of the offence.

Gupta had approached the top court challenging its earlier order.

Pawan had claimed that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime and that the Delhi High Court had ignored this fact.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court today stayed the execution of the convicts -- Akshay Thakur, Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, and Vinay Sharma -- which was earlier scheduled to take place on February 1.

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

One of the five adults accused, Ram Singh had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial of the case.