Nirbhaya gang-rape: SC dismisses curative petitions of two death row convicts

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 14) dismissed the curative petitions of two death-row convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case.

Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Kumar filed the petitions in the top court on January 9, two days after death warrants were issued to all the four convicts.

A five-judge bench headed by Justices N.V. Ramana, R. Bhanumathi, Ashok Bhushan, Arun Mishra, and R.F. Nariman dismissed the petitions after an in-chamber hearing.

Since all the options have been exhausted, they are left with moving a mercy petition before the President.

“This is a big day for me. I had been struggling for the past seven years. But the biggest day will be on January 22 whey the convicts will be hanged,” the victim’s mother told ANI.

Earlier, the apex court turned down the review petitions against the death sentence from three of the convicts.

On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old college student was brutally raped and assaulted by six men including a minor on a moving bus. Days later, the girl succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Singapore. The gang-rape triggered widespread protests across the country.