The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the curative petition filed by Pawan Gupta, one of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case. A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana, which considered the curative plea in-chamber, also rejected Pawan’s application seeking a stay on the execution of death sentence which is scheduled for Tuesday.
“The application for oral hearing is rejected. The application for stay of execution of death sentence is also rejected. The curative petition is dismissed…,” the bench, also comprising Justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan, said. In his curative plea, Pawan had sought commutation of his death penalty to life imprisonment. He had also sought a stay on the execution of black warrant issued by the trial court for the hanging. The trial court had on February 17 issued fresh date for execution of death warrants for Tuesday at 6 am for the four convicts — Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar. The mercy petitions of three convicts — Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay — have already been dismissed by the President. The Apex Court had earlier dismissed separate pleas filed by Mukesh and Vinay challenging the rejection of their mercy petitions by the President. The bench comprising Justices N V Ramana, Arun Mishra, R F Narima, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan held that no ground was made out for interference. This is the last legal remedy available “We have gone through the Curative Petition and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra& Another, reported in 2002 (4) SCC 388. Hence, the Curative Petition is dismissed”, the bench said in the order. Pawan Gupta had also attempted to raise a claim that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence. But the plea of juvenility was rejected concurrently by the Trial Court, Delhi High Court and also the Apex Court. The death penalty was upheld by the Supreme Court on May 5, 2017. Later, in July 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed the review petitions filed by Mukesh, Vinay and Pawan. In December last year, the review petition of Akshay was dismissed.
Order of the court
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
INHERENT JURISDICTION
CURATIVE PETITION (CRIMINAL) ………..D.No.8243 OF 2020
IN
REVIEW PETITION (CRIMINAL ) No.671 OF 2017
IN
CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 608 OF 2017
PAWAN KUMAR GUPTA … PETITIONER
Versus
THE STATE OF N.C.T. OF DELHI …RESPONDENT
O R D E R
The application for oral hearing is rejected. The application for stay of execution of death sentence is also rejected. We have gone through the Curative Petition and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra& Another, reported in 2002 (4) SCC 388. Hence, the Curative Petition is dismissed. As a sequel to the above, pending interlocutory application also stands disposed of. .
…………………………………………J. (N.V. RAMANA)
……………………….……J. (ARUN MISHRA)
……….……J. (ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN)
.…………………….……J. (R. BANUMATHI)
………………….……J. (ASHOK BHUSHAN)
New Delhi; March 02, 2020
Edited by Pragash Boopal
Approved & Published – Sakshi Raje
