Nirbhaya case: SC reserves order on plea seeking to review death penalty

Two of the four condemned convicts sought review of its 2017 verdict upholding death penalty awarded to them in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case

The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its order on the plea of two of the four condemned convicts seeking a review of its 2017 verdict upholding the death penalty awarded to them in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan reserved the order after hearing arguments on behalf of the convicts Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta who sought a review of its verdict.

The apex court had on May 5, 2017 upheld the verdict of the Delhi High Court and the trial court awarding capital punishment to four convicts--Mukesh (29), Pawan Gupta (22), Vinay Sharma (23) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31)-- in the sensational Nirbhaya case that related to gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student on December 16, 2012 in Delhi.

The bench today asked senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing Delhi Police, and lawyer A P Singh, counsel for Vinay and Pawan to file their written submissions by next Tuesday. It had earlier reserved its verdict on the review petition filed by Mukesh. Akshay has not filed a review petition yet.

The paramedic student was gang-raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in South Delhi by a gang of six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road naked. She succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Another accused in the case, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail, while a convicted juvenile has come out of the reformation home after serving a three-year term.