Nirbhaya rape case: SC to hear curative petitons of two death row convicts on Jan 14

The Supreme Court is slated to hear the curative petitions of two convicts on death row, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh, in 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case on January 14.

A five-judge bench comprising of Justices N V Ramana, Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan will hear the matter.

The curative petition grants a second review of the death sentence upheld by the apex court.

The four rapists were given a death sentence by the trial court, which was later upheld by the High court and the Supreme Court.

Both the convicts filed the petition after a Delhi court issued death warrants against all four convicts involved in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case (aka the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder incident). According to the order, the rapists will be hanged on January 22 at 7 AM.

The court added that the convicts can use their legal remedies within 14 days. After the court fixed the date of execution of the Nirbhaya case convicts, the lawyer representing the convicts, AP Singh, said that a curative petition will be filed at the Supreme Court.

The Tihar jail authorities have already written to UP prison officials to provide them with a hangman for the purpose of the execution.

After the 23-year-old psychotherapy intern, dubbed 'Nirbhaya', was brutally gang-raped and murdered in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi on December 16, 2012, the incident generated tremendous public outroar and media coverage demanding justice for the victim.

The accused in the case - Akshay Kumar, Pawan Gupta, Mukesh Singh, Ram Singh, Vinay Sharma, and a minor boy - were promptly arrested under charges of sexual assault and murder. In 2013, one of the accused, Ram Singh, died in police custody of possible suicide.

All of the remaining accused were convicted by a fast-track trial court of rape and murder, and while the juvenile was given the maximum sentence of three years imprisonment at a reform facility, the rest were sentenced to death by hanging. 

Subsequently, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court upheld this judgment.