Nirbhaya case: SC to hear convict`s review plea on death penalty today

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear the petition of a death row convict in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, seeking the review of the 2017 judgement of the SC upholding his death penalty. A bench will hear the review plea filed by Akshay Kumar Singh, who through his lawyer AP Singh, sought clemency, citing the depleting air quality and water pollution in the city, which has negatively impacted the life span of the citizens.

The bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice R Banumathi and Justice Ashok Bhushan will hear the petition 2 pm and the court will also hear the application of Nirbhaya's mother in protest against the review petition. The petition seeking to be hanged soon will be heard in the Patiala House Court at 2 pm on Wednesday. At the same time, after the order of the apex court, the petition seeking the hanging of the culprits soon will be heard in the Patiala House Court at 2 pm on Wednesday.

Earlier, the court had said that the plea of ​​Akshay will be reconsidered in the Supreme Court on December 17 and the verdict on it is awaited. After that, the hearing will be held on December 18. Nirbhaya's parents, who had filed the petition during the hearing, will also be present in the courtroom. 

The top court had already dismissed the review pleas of three other convicts also on death row. They are Mukesh (30), Pawan Gupta (23) and Vinay Sharma (24). The court found no merit in conducting the review and upheld the capital punishment given by the trial court and confirmed by the Delhi High Court in the case. Ram Singh, another accused in the case, allegedly committed suicide in the jail. A juvenile accused, convicted by a juvenile justice board, was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

The 23-year-old paramedic student was gangraped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a moving bus. Later, she was thrown at an isolated place by the accused and died on December 29, 2012. The convicts, except Akshay, can avail legal remedy by filing curative pleas in the top court against their conviction and death penalty. After exhausting the legal channel, the convicts can send mercy plea to the President. If the President dismisses the mercy pleas of the accused, then the authorities would need death warrants from a local court to carry out executions.