Nirbhaya convict Pawan Gupta files plea at SC seeking to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment

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New Delhi: One of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case Pawan Gupta filed a curative petition on Friday (February 28, 2020) in the Supreme Court seeking direction to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.

A trial court in Delhi has issued a death warrant to hang the four convicts on March 3. The curative petitions and mercy pleas of the other convicts — Akshay Kumar, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh have already been dismissed.

The top court will hear the plea on March 2 and it is likely that this petition will be rejected. On the other hand, Pawan's lawyers could demand a stay on the execution order set for March 3. 

Pawan still has the right to file a mercy petition to the President after his curative petition is rejected by the apex court on Monday. The mercy petition to the President is filed 3 to 4 days later, so it is likely that the execution of the convicts will not take place on March 3. 

A fresh death warrant may be issued in the case on March 2.

The Patiala House Court had on Monday (February 17) issued fresh death warrants against the four convicts while hearing a petition by the state and Nirbhaya's parents.

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedic student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.