SC reserves order in 2012 Delhi gang-rape case

The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its order on the plea by two of the four convicts seeking a review of the 2017 verdict that had upheld the death penalty awarded to them in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan wrapped up by hearing arguments on behalf of the convicts Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta, who contended that they were of young age, belonged to poor family and had no criminal antecedents.

The apex court had on May 5, 2017 upheld the verdict of the Delhi High Court and the trial court awarding capital punishment to four convicts—Mukesh (29), Pawan Gupta (22), Vinay Sharma (23) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31)— in the case that related to the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student on December 16, 2012 in Delhi.

The bench asked senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing Delhi Police, and lawyer A P Singh, counsel for Vinay and Pawan, to file their written submissions by next Tuesday.

It had earlier reserved its verdict on the review petition filed by Mukesh.

Akshay has not filed a review petition yet.

On the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in South Delhi, a gang of six people had sexually assaulted the girl before throwing her out on the road naked. She succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

Another accused in the case, Ram Singh, had reportedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail, while a convicted juvenile has come out of the reformation home after serving a three-year term.