Nirbhaya case: Verdict on review plea by Akshay Kumar Singh
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea of one of the four convicts - Akshay Kumar Singh, in Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case seeking review of its 2017 judgement upholding the death penalty. The review petition is not re-hearing of appeal over and over again, the Supreme Court said, adding we find no grounds for review of 2017 verdict upholding the death penalty of the convict.
The convict's lawyer also sought 3-weeks' time to file a mercy petition before the President, to which Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told Supreme Court that the law prescribes one-week's time for filing a mercy petition before the President.
The top court further refrained from expressing a view on the time frame to file mercy petition and said the convict can avail remedy of filing a mercy plea within the time prescribed under law.
With the verdict, the review pleas of the four accused in the Nirbhaya case now stand dismissed. The top court also allotted 7-days' time to file a mercy petition in the case after a request by the lawyer of Akshay Kumar Singh.
Of the total, prime accused Ram Singh had committed suicide in the Tihar jail during the trial of the case. Another accused in the matter was a minor and had appeared before a juvenile justice court.
The four persons are facing the gallows for rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012.
During the course of proceedings on Wednesday, Senior advocate AP Singh, representing Akshay, told a newly-constituted bench headed by Justice R Banumathi that his client has been "falsely implicated" in the case and argued against the death penalty awarded to him.
"Death penalty is a primitive method of punishment. Execution kills the criminal, not the crime. Use of the death penalty did not seem to have a deterrent effect on criminals and convicts," Singh contended.
The counsel said that the victim died of septicemia and drug overdose and wrong reports were made to falsely implicate his client.
"The dying declaration was doubtful. This was tutored. This was not voluntary. She has not named Akshay as the accused who had committed the offence."
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi state, said that no mercy should be granted. "There are crimes where humanity is put to shame...crimes when God cries...there should be no mercy," he said.
Akshay has moved the top court seeking review of its 2017 verdict which upheld the death penalty awarded to him and three others in the case.
He has sought modification and leniency in the sentence.
In May 2017, Mukesh, Akshay, Pawan and Vinay had knocked the doors of the apex court against a Delhi High Court order which confirmed the capital punishment awarded to them by the trial court in September 2013.
In a voluminous judgement, the bench of the top court had held the attitude of offenders as "bestial proclivity" and said, "It sounds like a story from a different world where humanity is treated with irreverence."
Subsequently, the three convicts besides Akshay had sought review of the judgment but it was dismissed.
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