Nirbhaya gangrape case: New Supreme Court bench to hear convict's review plea today

New Delhi: Supreme Court's three judges bench on Wednesday (December 18) will hear review plea of a death-row convict in the Nirbhaya gang rape-and-murder case, as Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde on Tuesday recused himself from hearing the petition on personal grounds.

The new bench was constituted to hear Akshay Kumar Singh`s review petition after the CJI recused himself on personal grounds from a bench, which also comprised Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan. In the new bench, Justice SA Bopanna has replaced the Chief Justice. 

Notably, Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan were part of the court`s bench which rejected the review petitions of other three convicts in the case. 

Akshay Kumar Singh had moved the court seeking review of its 2017 verdict which had upheld the death penalty awarded to him and three others in the case, seeking modification and leniency in the sentence.

In May 2017, 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. 

The apex court had upheld their death penalty terming their attitude as "bestial proclivity" and added, "It sounds like a story from a different world where humanity is treated with irreverence." Subsequently, the three convicts besides Akshay sought review of the judgment but it was dismissed. 

These convicts are facing the gallows for rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012. Besides them, prime accused Ram Singh had committed suicide in the Tihar jail during the trial of the case. Another accused appeared was a minor and his trial wad done through a juvenile justice court. 

(With Agency Inputs)