SC rejects curative petition of Nirbhaya case convict Pawan Gupta

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the curative petition filed by Pawan Gupta, one of the four death-row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, against the dismissal of his juvenility claim.

A six-judge bench headed by Justice NV Ramana dismissed the plea, saying "no case is made out".

"The application for oral hearing is rejected. We have gone through the curative petition and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out... Hence, the curative petition is dismissed," said the bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, RF Nariman, R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna.

On March 5, a trial court issued fresh black warrants for the execution of all the four convicts in the case - Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay (26) and Akshay (31) - in Tihar Jail at 5.30 am on March 20.

All the convicts have exhausted their legal remedies and constitutional remedies with the filing of their mercy petitions, which have been rejected by President Ram Nath Kovind.