Delay in hanging of convicts in Nirbhaya case 'painful', says NCW chief

NCW chief Rekha Sharma said that the decision by the Supreme Court to dismiss the plea filed by one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape is welcome. But the delay in hanging the convicts is painful not only for the family of Nirbhaya but for everyone connected with the case.

New Delhi:NCW chief Rekha Sharma on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court's rejection of a review petition filed by one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case but said the delay in hanging the culprits is "painful".

The petition was filed by convict Akshay Kumar seeking review of the apex court's 2017 judgement upholding his death sentence.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice R Banumathi, said there are no grounds to review the 2017 verdict and the contentions raised by Akshay were already considered by the top court in the main judgement.

"The decision by the Supreme Court to dismiss the plea is welcome. But the delay (in hanging the convicts) is painful not only for the family of Nirbhaya but for everyone connected with the case," the National Commission for Women chief (NCW) told media over the phone.

Dismissing Akshay's plea, the apex court said it found "no error" on the face of the main judgement requiring any review.

On July 9 last year, the court had dismissed the review pleas filed by the other three convicts -- Mukesh (30), Pawan Gupta (23) and Vinay Sharma (24) -- in the case.

Mukesh's lawyer M L Sharma on Wednesday said he is examining the option of filing a curative petition against the July 9, 2018, court order.

Curative petition is the last legal recourse available to a person and it is generally considered in-chamber.

After that, the convicts can file a mercy petition before the President.

The four men, along with two others, had raped and brutally assaulted a 23-year-old paramedic student on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, inside a moving bus in south Delhi.

The victim, who came to be known as Nirbhaya, died on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.