December 16 Delhi gangrape convicts move HC against jail term in robbery case

New Delhi: Three of the four death row convicts in the December 16 gangrape and murder case today moved Delhi High Court challenging the 10-year jail term awarded to them by a trial court in a robbery case.

Justice S P Garg fixed the appeal filed by convicts Akshay Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma for consideration on April 21.

The trio, who were convicted for dacoity and dishonestly receiving stolen property, have alleged before the high court that the trial court's order was "bad in law" and "against the principle of natural justice".

Besides the trio, the trial court on September 2, 2015 had also awarded 10 year imprisonment to convict Mukesh, saying they "do not deserve any leniency". It had also imposed a fine of Rs 1.01 lakh each on the four convicts, who are currently lodged in Tihar jail.

The convicts in their appeal, filed through advocate A P Singh, have sought setting aside of the trial court verdict saying it did not "pay heed towards facts produced by the accused persons during the trial of the case".

The plea stated that the prosecution has failed to prove?its case and not placed any material evidence, which could point to their guilt.

"Trial court had passed order (conviction and sentence) without applying its judicial mind and without taking into consideration the facts and documents placed by the convicts on record and has wrongly relied upon the version of the complainant," the convicts have said in their appeal, while seeking bail during pendency of their appeals.

Six persons, including a juvenile, had beaten up and robbed carpenter Ram Adhar before raping and brutally assaulting a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus in south Delhi on the night of December 16, 2012.

Thirteen days after the assault, she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment where she succumbed to injuries.