Nirbhaya case: SC rejects curative petition of convict Pawan Gupta

The Supreme Court on Thursday (March 19) rejected the curative petition filed by Pawan Gupta, one of the four death-row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, against the dismissal of his juvenility claim.

A six-judge bench headed by Justice NV Ramana dismissed the plea, saying “no case is made out”.

“The application for oral hearing is rejected. We have gone through the curative petition and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out… Hence, the curative petition is dismissed,” said the bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, RF Nariman, R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna.

On March 5, a trial court issued fresh black warrants for the execution of all the four convicts in the case – Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay (26) and Akshay (31) – in Tihar Jail at 5.30 am on March 20.

All the convicts have exhausted their legal remedies and constitutional remedies with the filing of their mercy petitions, which have been rejected by the president.

Speaking to the reporters, Asha Devi, mother of the victim, said, “Court gave them so many opportunities that they have become habituated of bringing something ahead of hanging&get it postponed. Now, our courts are aware of their tactics. Nirbhaya will get justice tomorrow.”

A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who came to be known as Nirbhaya (fearless), was gang-raped and savagely assaulted in a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012. She died a fortnight after the incident.

Six people, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused. Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail days after the trial began in the case. The juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home.

(With inputs from agencies)