Nirbhaya case: SC dismisses curative plea of fourth death row convict

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the curative petition filed by Pawan Gupta, one of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.

A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana, which considered the curative plea in-chamber, also rejected Pawan's application seeking stay on the execution of death sentence which is scheduled for Tuesday.

"The application for oral hearing is rejected. The application for stay of execution of death sentence is also rejected. The curative petition is dismissed...," the bench, also comprising Justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan, said.

In his curative plea, Pawan had sought commutation of his death penalty to life imprisonment. He had also sought a stay on the execution of black warrant issued by the trial court for the hanging.

The trial court had on February 17 issued fresh date for execution of death warrants for Tuesday at 6am for the four convicts - Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31) - in the case. This was for the third time that the death warrants were issued by the court against them.

The mercy petitions of three convicts - Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay - have already been dismissed by the President.

The apex court had earlier dismissed separate pleas filed by Mukesh and Vinay challenging the rejection of their mercy petitions by the President. Akshay has not yet challenged the rejection of his mercy petition.

Court dismisses pleas to stay execution

Meanwhile, a Delhi court has dismissed the pleas seeking stay on the execution of death warrants.

The court decided however to hear the lawyer of one of the two convicts, Pawan Kumar Gupta, after it was informed that he has filed a mercy plea before the President after his curative petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court earlier in the day.

Additional Session Judge Dharmender Rana asked Pawan's lawyer, A P Singh, to come post lunch to argue on why stay of execution be granted.

The court dismissed the applications for stay moved by Pawan and co-convict Akshay Kumar Singh.

After the order was passed, Pawan's lawyer informed the court that he has filed a mercy plea before the President and the execution be stayed.

Akshay, in his application for stay, had said that he has filed a fresh mercy petition before the President of India, which is pending. He contended that his earlier mercy petition which was dismissed by the President did not have complete facts.

On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as ''Nirbhaya'' (fearless), was gang raped and savagely assaulted in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died after a fortnight.

Six people, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused. Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail days after the trial began in the case.

The juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home.