SC to hear Nirbhaya gangrape convict's review plea on Tuesday

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear a review plea filed by one of the four convicts in 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, on Tuesday.

Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan will hear Akshay Kumar Singh's petition at 2 pm, according to an official circular.

In May 2017, a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Dipak Mishra (retired), Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice R Banumathi had dismissed the appeals filed by all the four convicts against the death sentence awarded to them.

The four convicts -- Mukesh, Akshay, Pawan and Vinay -- had knocked the doors of the apex court against a Delhi High Court order which confirmed the capital punishment awarded to them by the trial court in September 2013.

 

In a voluminous judgement, the bench had held the attitude of offenders as "beastial proclivity" and said, "It sounds like a story from a different world where humanity is treated with irreverence."

In her judgement, Justice Bhanumathi had said the "incident shocks the collective conscience of society."

The 23-year-old paramedical student was gang-raped in a moving bus on December 16, 2012.

Out of six persons, one was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar jail.

The four convicts are now facing the gallows. One of them, Vinay, moved a mercy petition last month but has now sought to withdraw it.