A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Pawan Kumar Gupta – one of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case (aka the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder incident). The top court had earlier in the day said that it will pronounce its verdict at 2:30 PM.
Pawan had claimed that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime and therefore he should be considered by the law as such when meting out the punishment in the case. He had also alleged that the Delhi High Court had ignored this fact when upholding the death sentence to the convicts.
Pawan’s lawyer, AP Singh, today stated before the three-judge Bench that Pawan’s age was 17 years, 1 month and 20 days when the offence was committed and that is why his role should be considered as a juvenile in the case. However, he accused the Delhi High Court of ignoring this fact.
However, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Pawan’s petition stating that there was no fresh ground in the matter. Justice Ashok Bhushan, who was present in the Bench, mentioned that the petition was dismissed last year but coming with some new information now will not be maintainable. “On July 9, 2018, Pawan’s petition was dismissed by this court, but now how come you are coming with some new information? How will this be maintainable?” Justice Ashok Bhushan observed.
Following the rejection of the petition, Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi said, “Their tactic to delay the hanging has been rejected. I’ll be satisfied only when they’re hanged on February 1. Just like they’re delaying it one after another, they must be hanged one by one so that they understand what it means to toy with law.”
