[ By Bobby Anthony ]One of the Nirbhaya convicts who has been sentenced to death, Vinay Sharma, has filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court, two days after a Delhi court ruled that all four convicted for gang rape and murder will be hanged until death.The curative petition was filed by 26-year-old convict Vinay Sharma, who along with three other fellow convicts — Akshay Singh...
One of the Nirbhaya convicts who has been sentenced to death, Vinay Sharma, has filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court, two days after a Delhi court ruled that all four convicted for gang rape and murder will be hanged until death.
The curative petition was filed by 26-year-old convict Vinay Sharma, who along with three other fellow convicts — Akshay Singh Thakur (31), Pawan Gupta (25), Mukesh Singh (32) — is scheduled to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar Jail, according to a recent death warrant issued by a Delhi court.
In the petition, the Vinay Sharma’s lawyer stated that the Supreme Court should have considered that Vinay was only 19 years old at the time of the incident. His young age and socio-economic background should have been considered as mitigating factors.
Vinay’s lawyer stated that earlier, the Supreme Court has commuted death penalty to life imprisonment in 17 other cases of rape and murder, including that of minors. The same relief should be granted to Vinay, the plea has stated.
A curative petition is the last legal recourse available to a convict and it is generally considered in-chamber.
If the Supreme Court dismisses Vinay Sharma’s curative plea, then he and his fellow death row convicts would still have the option to file a mercy plea before the President of India.
It may be recalled that in December 18, 2019, the Supreme Court had dismissed the last review petition in the case, filed by one of the convicts, Akshay Singh.
The four death row convicts will soon be placed in isolation cells till the date of their execution. They will be hanged to death inside Jail Number 3 at 7 am on January 22 by a hangman from Meerut who will use ropes to be sourced from Buxar in Bihar.
Of the initial six accused, Ram Singh, the bus driver, had committed suicide in Tihar Jail during the trial, while another accused turned out to be a juvenile. He was tried by a Juvenile Justice Board, and was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.
On December 16, 2012, the 23-year-old woman referred to as 'Nirbhaya' and her friend had watched a movie and were looking for a bus to return home when they were lured into an empty private bus at South Delhi, by six men, who included the death row convicts.
The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang raped for hours and brutally tortured with an iron rod in a moving bus on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a moving bus in South Delhi, before being dumped on the road.
She died on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, after which a shocked and grieving nation took to the streets to demand justice.