SC to hear curative pleas of two Nirbhaya convicts on Jan 14

On January 14, the Supreme Court will hear the curative petitions of two Nirbhaya convicts. A five-judge bench will hear the curative petitions filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear the curative petitions filed by two convicts, on death row, in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case on January 14.

A five-judge bench comprising Justices NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, Rohinton Fali Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan will hear the curative petitions filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh, who moved the apex court on Thursday. Mukesh filed the plea after fellow convict Vinay Sharma moved the court.

A trial court here, while issuing death warrants against the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case on Tuesday observed that "despite being afforded sufficient time and opportunity", the convicts didn't exercise their legal remedies.

The court fixed January 22 and 7 a.m. as the date and time for execution of the four convicted persons in the case. After a 23-year-old woman was gang-raped and tortured on December 16, 2012, leading to her death, all six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder.

One of the accused was a minor and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another accused committed suicide in Tihar Jail. The four convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld in May 2017 by the Supreme Court, which also dismissed their review petitions.

Vinay Sharma in the curative petition said his entire family suffered due to the criminal proceedings. "The petitioner is not the only person being punished; his entire family has suffered greatly as a result of the criminal proceedings. The family faced societal wrath and humiliation for no fault of theirs.

"The petitioner's parents are old and extremely poor. The case has been a huge drain on their resources and now they are left almost empty-handed," stated the curative petition filed through senior advocate Adhis C. Aggarwala and Advocate A.P. Singh.

"The petitioner's father earns a meagre living. The family has no savings and lives in the R.K. Puram Harijan Basti. If the petitioner is executed his entire family will be destroyed," it stated.

The plea further said the state had no evidence in the form of psychiatric structured clinical judgment, based on the appellant's life in the prison (around 7 years) and life prior to it, in the background of his mental impairment, his adjustment to and interaction with other inmates and officials.