Supreme Court dismisses Nirbhaya convicts’ curative pleas

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the curative petition of the two death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case.

A five-judge Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Arun Mishra, RF Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan heard the petition filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh.

The duo had moved a curative petition in the top court after a Delhi court issued death warrants in their names for their hanging on January 22.

Besides them, two other convicts named Pawan and Akshay are also slated to be executed on the same day at 7 am in Delhi’s Tihar Jail premises.

Asha Devi, mother of 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim: This is a big day for me. I had been struggling for the last 7 years. But the biggest day will be 22nd January when they (convicts) will be hanged. https://t.co/GBfPt9ezIb pic.twitter.com/uMPcVfP7Sf

— ANI (@ANI) January 14, 2020

They were convicted and sentenced to death for raping a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in the national capital on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, had succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.

A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for the redressal of grievances. Curative petitions are decided in-chambers by the judges.

If it is rejected, they are legally bound to move a mercy petition. It is filed before the President who has the power to commute it to life imprisonment.

The court after issuing a black warrant in their name gave them two weeks time to file both the curative and mercy petitions. (ANI)