SC affirms death sentence of Nirbhaya case convicts, rejects review pleas

The convicts in the sensational Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case will face the gallows, with the Supreme Court today reaffirming their death sentence holding that "no grounds" have been made out to review the verdict.

However, these death row convicts still have judicial redressal for a re-examination of the dismissal of their appeals and review pleas by way of a curative petition, which is the last legal remedy left for curing the defects, if any, in the judgement. Before facing the gallows, the convicts can also seek mercy from the President.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the grounds raised by convicts Mukesh (31), Pawan Gupta (24) and Vinay Sharma (25) for a review of its judgement of May 5 last year, have already been considered in the verdict delivered on their appeals against the Delhi High Court's judgement.

The bench, which also comprised Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan, said that after going through the grounds taken in the petitions, no new ground to review its judgement was found.

The fourth death row convict, Akshay Kumar Singh (33), has not yet filed a review petition against the apex court judgement, while another convict, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail here on March 11, 2013.

A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

The 23-year-old paramedic student was gangraped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in South Delhi by six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. She had succumbed to injuries on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Reacting to the apex court verdict, the parents of the victim said their faith in the judiciary has been reinstated and they hoped to get justice.

"The Supreme Court upholding its verdict is a strong message to those who commit such heinous crimes. Our faith in the judiciary has been reinstated. I appeal to the Prime Minister to take concrete steps against atrocities towards young girls and women," Asha Devi, the mother of the victim, said.

Dismissing the review pleas of Pawan and Vinay, Justice Bhushan, who wrote the judgement for the bench, said "the counsel for the appellants/petitioners had made elaborate submissions which were all duly considered by us in our main judgment (of May 5, 2017). In these review petitions, no ground has been made out which may furnish any ground to review the judgment."
In a separate verdict dismissing the review plea of Mukesh, the bench said, "We, after having heard counsel for the petitioner and the senior counsel for the respondent (state) and having gone through the grounds taken in the review petition, find that review petition does not disclose any ground on which review jurisdiction can be exercised by this Court..."