The Supreme Court on Monday kept alive the death penalty for the convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case by dismissing their review petitions that challenged the May 5, 2017 apex court verdict sending the four accused to the gallows.
The convicts now have the option of filing a curative petition and can even seek Presidential pardon as the last recourse.
Out of the four, three convicts — Mukesh (31), Pawan Gupta (24) and Vinay Sharma (25) — had preferred review of the SC judgment condemning them to death. The fourth accused, Akshay Kumar Singh (33), did not file any review petition.
The Nirbhaya rape and murder case involved a 23-year-old girl who took a lift in a chartered bus with her friend on the fateful day of December 16, 2012. Six members who formed the bus crew brutally wounded the victim and her friend and later she was gangraped in the most gruesome manner in the bus as it was driven in the city. later the two were dumped on road. The girl was shifted to a hospital, taken for treatment to Singapore where she breathed her last.
The incident inspired nationwide outrage that led to path-breaking reforms in law related to crimes against women.
While one of the accused was tried as a juvenile, the sixth accused Ram Singh committed suicide inside the jail. The manner in which the accused violated the woman led the trial court and the Delhi High Court to categorise the crime as rarest of rare and sentence all the convicts to death.
Dealing with their review petitions, a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan found no material to doubt their previous judgment.
The Bench said under review jurisdiction, the Courts can examine whether there is manifest injustice caused or an error apparent in the judgment.
It concluded, “In these review petitions, no ground has been made out which may furnish any ground to review the judgment. We, thus, find no merit in these review petitions and consequently, the review petitions are dismissed.”
Reacting to the decision, the victim’s parents said, “The Supreme Court upholding its verdict is a strong message to those who commit such heinous crimes. Our faith in the judiciary has been reinstated. I appeal to the Prime Minister to take concrete steps against atrocities towards young girls and women.”