Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the curative petitions of two of the four convicts, on death row, in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case.
A five-judge bench comprising Justices NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, Rohinton Fali Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan had heard the curative petitions filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh, who moved the apex court on January 9.
Curative petitions are decided in-chambers by judges. It is the last and final legal remedy available to convicts.
Ahead of the apex court hearing, Delhi gangrape victim’s mother Asha Devi had said she is hopeful that the curative petition of the two convicts in the case will be dismissed.
She also exuded confidence that the four convicts will be hanged and January 22.
Delhi’s Patiala House Court had on January 7 issued death warrants against all the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya rape and murder case.
Akshay Thakur Singh, Mukesh, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma, who were found guilty in the rape and murder of a Delhi medical student, will be hanged at 7 am on January 22.
While issuing death warrants, the trial court observed that “despite being afforded sufficient time and opportunity”, the convicts didn’t exercise their legal remedies.
The Supreme Court has already confirmed death penalty for all the four convicts. The court found no merit in conducting the review and upheld the capital punishment given by the trial court and confirmed by the Delhi High Court in the case.
One of the accused in the case, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide at Tihar Jail in Delhi.
A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.
A 23-year-old paramedic student, who came to be known as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in south Delhi by six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. She succumbed to injuries on December 29 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.