New Delhi, May 5: In one step closer to justice for Nirbhaya, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death sentence given by Delhi High Court to the four convicts in the brutal gangrape and murder case of a 23-year-old paramedic on the night of December 16, 2012. Calling the act as brutal, barbaric and diabolic, the court said the four — Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur — deserved death penalty. The three-judge Bench of Justices Dipak Misra, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan said, “Taking the serious injuries, the severe nature of offence committed by the convicts, we are upholding the sentence.”
There are only three options available before the four convicts — review petition, curative petition and mercy petition.
If the High Court confirms the death penalty and it is also upheld by the Supreme Court, a convict can file a review petition within 30 days. In this case, convicts can only challenge the sentence as they have done it earlier. The review petition is heard by the same Bench in judges’ chamber and an application has to be filed if hearing has to be listed for open court.
If the review petition is rejected, they can file a curative petition. This is the last legal retort available to the convicts. The curative petition is heard by the three seniormost judges and in this case, it will be heard by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, Justice Dipak Misra and Jasti Chelameswar. It is heard in judges’ chamber but if an application is filed then the petition can be heard in the open court.
Given the number of evidences and dying declaration of the victim, it is very unlikely that there would be any change in the judgement.
The last option is mercy petition which is filed before the President. Even though a convict can appeal for the mercy till the last minute, but if it is rejected, then there are no options available.
After the brutal gangrape and murder of Nirbhaya, changes were brought in the law. On February 26, 2013, it was approved that the death sentence can be given in a rape case if the victim goes into coma, in permanent vegetative state or dies due to it.
Six men, including the four convicts, were found guilty of brutally raping a 23-year old physiotherapist inside a bus on December 16, 2012. The victim succumbed to injuries 13 days later in a Singapore hospital on December 29, 2012. One of the primary suspects, Ram Singh, was found hanging inside a prison cell in Tihar jail in March 2013, while another suspect, a juvenile at the time of the crime, was given a sentence of 3 years inside a juvenile home. The juvenile walked free out of the juvenile home on December 18, 2015.
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