Nirbhaya Case / CJI opts out of hearing Nirbhaya convict's plea, says his relative appeared for victim

Chief Justice SA Bobde recused himself on Tuesday from hearing the plea of convict Akshay Kumar Singh seeking review of the 2017 apex court judgment upholding his death penalty in the Nirbhaya gang rape-and-murder case.

A special bench, comprising CJI and Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan, made it clear that review pleas have to be heard by another appropriate bench.

The CJI said one of his relatives had earlier appeared on behalf of the victim’s mother in the case and observed that it would be appropriate that some other bench hear the review plea at 10:30 am.

Advocate A P Singh, appearing for Akshay, started his submission saying that the case in hand has suffered political and media pressure and grave injustice has been done to the convict.

Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh are on death row for the gang rape and murder of the 23-year-old woman who was tortured on a bus that she and a friend boarded in south Delhi’s Munirka. A fifth adult suspect in the case, Ram Singh, purportedly committed suicide in prison before the trial ended and a sixth was a minor at the time of the crime.