Supreme Court upholds death penalty to rapists in Nirbhaya rape case
Supreme Court uphold death penalty to rapists in Nirbhaya rape case Supreme Court dismisses review pleas filed by 3 of the 4 convicts seeking reduction of their death sentence to a life term and upholds its earlier order of death sentence in the brutal gang-rape and murder case, here on Monday. Justice Ashok Bhushan read the opinion first. "We have considered the scope of the review petition in a criminal proceeding. Normally in criminal proceedings, review not applied except in cases of manifest injustice on the face of the record. The applicant cannot be allowed to re-argue the plea." "Review only when a glaring or patent error apparent on the face of the record. We, after hearing counsel for petitioners, find that review plea does not disclose any grounds for interference. Review plea dismissed," says Justice Ashok Bhushan. "All accused had been given adequate time to be heard. No grounds made out for review." A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justices Ashok Bhushan, and R Bhanumathi pronounce the crucial verdict in the case. Nirbhaya was brutally gang-raped by six men in a moving bus. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. Eleven days after the assault, she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment but died from her injuries two days later. The incident generated widespread national and international coverage and was widely condemned, both in India and abroad. On September 13, 2013, Saket's fast-track court had awarded death sentence to all the four convicts. The case was then referred to the Delhi High Court. On May 05, 2017, the Supreme Court had upheld the Delhi High Court order of death penalty to Pawan Gupta, Mukesh, Vinay Sharma, and Akshay Thakur. -PTC News
