New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld its judgment on the death sentence in the 2012 Delhi gangrape case. A bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, delivered its verdict on the pleas filed by Mukesh (29), Pawan Gupta (22) and Vinay Sharma (23) and said the convicts had failed to point out “error” in the judgement. The court added that the convicts were heard elaborately during appeals and no grounds were made out for review of the verdict.
The fourth convict, Akshay Kumar Singh (31), has not filed a review plea. Advocate A P Singh, representing Akshay Kumar Singh, had told PTI, “Akshay has not filed a review petition yet. We will be filing it.”
According to the prosecution, the 23-year-old paramedical student was assaulted and raped by six persons in a moving bus in South Delhi and thrown out with her male friend on the night of December 16, 2012. She subsequently died during the treatment at a Singapore hospital on December 29 the same year. Out of the six convicts, prime accused Ram Singh had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar jail in 2013 during the trial of the case. Another accused was found out by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) as a minor and sentenced him to three years term at a probation home.
Saket’s Fast track Court on September 13, 2013 pronounced death sentence to all the four convicts. The trial court then referred the case to the Delhi High Court for confirmation of their death sentence. The Delhi High Court had on January 2017, reserved its verdict on confirming the death sentence and appeals of the four convicts. The Supreme Court had on May 5, last year, upheld the Delhi High Court order of death penalty to the four convicts.
Last year, the top court had upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts by the Delhi High Court and the trial court in the gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student on December 16, 2012 in the national capital. While one of the accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail, another accused, a juvenile, was convicted by the juvenile justice board and was released after three years from a reformation home.
The apex court was hearing the review petition filed by three of the four convicts seeking reduction of their death sentence to a life term. They were sentenced earlier by the court for the brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old medical student on a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012.
The accused asked the court to reduce their death sentences to life imprisonment.
The Supreme Court had on May 5, 2017 upheld the verdict of the Delhi High Court and the trial court sentencing the four men – Mukesh (29), Pawan Kumar Gupta (22), Vinay Sharma (23) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31) to death for raping the woman, fatally wounding her and leaving her to die by the road.
The accused had then appealed to the court to review their sentences, saying it was “cold-blooded killing in the name of Justice”. The court agreed to hear their request in November, 2017.
The brutal gangrape and killing of the 23-year-old medical student on December 16, 2012, triggered public outrage and shock across India. It also led to major changes to laws on sexual crimes against women.
Of the six accused, bus driver Ram Singh killed himself in his prison. The youngest accused, just days short of 18 when he committed the crime, was sent to juvenile home.
After being treated at AIIMS, New Delhi, the woman was flown to Singapore for treatment where she died on December 29, 2012. After the incident, the woman came to be known as “Nirbhaya” or fearless. Her parents have said that all the rapists should be hanged, including the youngest.