A three-justice bench of the Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea from one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape-and-murder case.
Pawan Kumar Gupta had moved the Supreme Court last week, pleading that he was a juvenile at the time when the crime was committed in December 2012. Pawan is one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape-and-murder case who was sentenced to death in the case in 2013 and is scheduled to be hanged on February 1.
A Delhi court on Friday issued fresh death warrants for February 1 against the four convicts—Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Akshay Kumar Singh and Pawan—in the Nirbhaya case.
The plea of Pawan Kumar Gupta was heard by Justices R. Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A.S. Bopanna. The bench rejected the plea, noting they found no fresh grounds that substantiated the claim Pawan was a juvenile.
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Appearing for Pawan, his lawyer, A.P. Singh, claimed the prosecution had concealed evidence of him being a juvenile from the court. Singh referred to Pawan's school-leaving certificate as saying his date of birth was "October 8, 1996". This would have made him only 16 years old at the time of commission of the crime. A.P. Singh argued that during proceedings in the trial court, only the prosecutor's argument about Pawan's age was used by the court. A.P. Singh alleged proceedings in the trial court were conducted in a hurry and there was "miscarriage of justice".
However, Justice Bhushan pointed out the school-leaving certificate was obtained in February 2017, long after Pawan was convicted. Bhushan also reminded Pawan's lawyer that questions about his age had been raised and "decided" in previous hearings related to the case including the review petition filed in July 2018. Bhushan was quoted by Live Law as saying, " If you keep coming like this, it will be unending". Justice Banumathi told Pawan's lawyer the claim he was a juvenile was raised "before trial court, HC and this court" and said it has been rejected.
Pawan approached the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea. A person who was a juvenile at the time of commission of a crime can't be given the death penalty. Pawan had sought directions restraining officials from carrying out his death sentence.
Pawan is yet to file a mercy plea in the case.