SC dismisses Nirbhaya case convict Pawan Kumar Gupta's plea claiming juvenility at the time of the offence

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by one of four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, Pawan K Gupta, claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of the incident in 2012. The apex court said this claim had already been rejected and he cannot raise it repeatedly.

A trial court has already re-scheduled February 1 as the date of execution of the four convicts.

A bench of Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna pronounced the order after hearing advocate A P Singh, for Pawan and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the Delhi Police.

"This issue was decided and rejected by this court. You have raised it at the trial court, the High Court and the Supreme Court. How many times can you raise this plea? We are not sitting over the review of those judgements. That stage is over," the bench said.

Gupta challenged the validity of the Delhi High Court's order of December 19, that had "ex-parte rejected his plea in violation of the principle of natural justice and right to life and liberty".

The petitioner claimed the school register issued to him on December 12, 2019, showed his date of birth as October 8, 1996, which proved that he was a minor at the time of the offence on December 15, 2012. He sought a stay on his execution, that was re-scheduled for February 1.

Singh claimed that there was a "big conspiracy to conceal" the material facts from the court as the information received from Ambedkar Nagar school was kept away from this court, which showed the date of birth as October 8, 1996.

He also contended his plea for juvenility was not examined as per the procedure prescribed under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. Stating that an order was passed by the trial court on January 10, 2013, in disregard to the school register from Ambedkar Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh, he alleged that police suppressed facts. He also said the case was decided under "immense public sentiments and media trial".

Singh also cited previous Supreme Court's judgements including the one in Upendra Pradhan Vs State of Orissa (2015) to claim that the plea of juvenility can be raised at any stage and even after dismissal of the case by the top court. He said it would be "miscarriage of justice" if his plea was not considered.

Solicitor General Mehta said, the written statement of parents was taken into consideration while deciding his claim of juvenility by the trial court on January 10, 2013. "This very document was a subject matter in review petition before the Supreme Court. It would be a travesty of justice if this plea is allowed to raise at this stage since every forum was used," he said.

The court, however, allowed Singh to file a separate plea against Rs 25,000 cost imposed on him by the Delhi High Court for playing "hide and seek" as he had failed to appear in the court despite several communications. The High Court had asked Bar Council of Delhi to take action against the advocate for filing "forged affidavit" in the court regarding the convict's age.

A Delhi court had earlier fixed January 22 as the date of execution of Mukesh (32) Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25).

The President had on Friday rejected the mercy petition of one of the convicts, Mukesh. The trial court then changed the date for the execution in the case of gang rape and murder of 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, to February 1.