India / SC dismisses curative petitions filed by 2 Nirbhaya convicts days before hanging

Livemint : Jan 14, 2020, 07:28 PM
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the curative petitions of two death row convicts Vinay Sharma and Mukesh in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case.

"The applications for stay of execution of death sentence are also rejected. We have gone through the Curative Petitions and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra & Another, reported in 2002 (4) SCC 388. Hence, the Curative Petitions are dismissed," the bench said.

The order was passed by a five judge bench comprising of Justices NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, Rohinton Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan in an “in chamber hearing."

The concept of "curative petition" evolved in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra where the question was whether the aggrieved person was entitled to any relief against a dismissal of review petition by the apex court. Supreme Court introduced this concept to ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice and principles of natural justice must be followed even at last stage of appeal.

They had filed the curative petitions on 9 January.

The death row convicts also have a legal remedy for a mercy petition.

A Delhi court on 7 January had issued death warrants against the four convicts in the 2012 gang-rape case. Additional sessions judge Satish Kumar Arora of the Patiala House Court had passed the order after hearing a plea by the victim’s parents to expedite the execution of death penalty. They are likely to be hanged on 22 January as per the death warrant order.

The apex court has dismissed review petitions filed by the convicts in two separate incidents related to the case. This follows a fast-track court in Delhi, in September 2013, imposing capital punishment on the four convicts saying that the case fell under the “rarest of rare" category. The death sentence was upheld by Delhi High Court in 2014.

On 16 December 2012, a 23-year-old woman was brutally assaulted and raped by six people in a moving bus in south Delhi. The incident had rocked the country, triggering nationwide protests. The woman succumbed to injuries on 29 December at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

One of the six accused in the case, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail.

A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board and was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER