New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday appointed senior advocate Anjana Prakash to represent one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case who was unrepresented after dropping his earlier lawyer.
A bench of Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna appointed Prakash as amicus curiae to represent the convict, Pawan Kumar Gupta.
"On behalf of respondent Pawan Gupta, we requested Anjana Prakash, senior counsel, to be amicus curiae to assist the court in the case of Pawan Gupta.
Anjana Prakash has graciously agreed to appear and advance arguments to assist the court in the matter of Pawan Gupta," the bench said in its order.
The top court deferred the hearing for Friday on the Centre's plea seeking separate execution of four convicts and asked all the condemned prisoners to file their replies by then.
Prakash had earlier appeared for convict Mukesh Kumar Singh, who had challenged the rejection of his mercy plea by the President. The top court had dismissed his plea.
Read: Nirbhaya's mother protests outside court over delay in hanging of convicts
The bench took note of the order of trial court passed on Wednesday in which it had asked the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to provide Pawan's father with a list of empanelled advocates to choose from to represent the convict.
Gupta is the only convict in the case who has not filed a curative petition, the last legal remedy available to a person.
He also has the option of filing a mercy plea against the death sentence.
Read: SC rejects Nirbhaya convict's request to pursue recommendation for rejection of mercy plea
On December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who later came to be known as 'Nirbhaya' (fearless), was gangraped and savagely assaulted in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died after a fortnight.
Six people, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused.
Ram Singh, the sixth person, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail days after the trial began.
The juvenile was released in 2015 after spending three years in a correctional home.
(PTI Report)
