The Supreme Court on Monday rejected review petitions of Nirbhaya gang rape and murder convicts saying there was no error in the earlier verdict of the apex court awarding them the death penalty.
The petitions had been filed by three of the four convicts – Mukesh Singh (31), Pawan Gupta (24) and Vinay Sharma (25). The fourth convict, Akshay Kumar Singh (33), has not yet filed a review petition.
Nirbhaya's parents said their faith in judiciary has been reinstated. "They should be hanged without wasting any time," said her mother Asha Devi. "I appeal to the Prime Minister to take concrete steps against atrocities towards young girls and women."
The three now have the option to file a curative petition in Supreme Court and finally make a mercy plea to President Ramnath Kovind.
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and also comprising Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan said these convicts have failed to point out any "error apparent on the face of record" in the judgement and they were given elaborate hearing during their appeal against the Delhi High Court judgement.
"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," the bench said.
The case of a 23-year-old paramedic student known as 'Nirbhaya' who was gangraped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 in a bus in South Delhi by six persons and savagely assaulted before being thrown out on the road had triggered a national outrage over women's safety. The then UPA government came out with changes in laws to deal with cases of rape and crime against women in a more stringent manner.
Nirbhaya had succumbed to injuries on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.
Another accused in the case, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail in Delhi on March 11, 2013. The Supreme Court in its May 5, 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to these convicts by the Delhi High Court and the trial court.
A juvenile, among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board but was later released after serving a three-year term.
In its judgement last year, the apex court had said that the "brutal, barbaric and diabolic nature" of the crime could create "tsunami of shock" to destroy a civilised society.
The court has observed that accused had found the victim as "an object for enjoyment" and "ravish her as they liked, treat her as they felt" to get "gross sadistic and beastly instinctual pleasure" and such acts were "bound to shock the collective conscience".
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Nirbhaya's parents said their faith in judiciary has been reinstated. "They should be hanged without wasting any time," said her mother Asha Devi. "I appeal to the Prime Minister to take concrete steps against atrocities towards young girls and women."
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