Nirbhaya case convict shifted to Tihar Jail; another moves SC seeking review of death penalty

rchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, December 10

One of the convicts in the December 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape-and-murder case, who was lodged in Mandoli Jail here, has been shifted to Tihar, jail officials said on Tuesday.

Pawan Kumar Gupta was shifted to Tihar recently, Director General (Prisons) Sandeep Goel said.

Gupta is lodged in Jail No 2 of Tihar, where two other convicts in the case—Mukesh Singh and Akshay—are also lodged, while Vinay Sharma is in Jail No 4 of Tihar, another jail official said.

Meanwhile, one of the four convicts, Akshay Kumar Singh, moved the Supreme Court Tuesday seeking review of its 2017 judgment handing down death penalty to all of them in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.

The apex court, on July 9, 2018, had dismissed the review pleas filed by three other convicts in the case.

Akshay, 31, who had not filed the review plea earlier with other three convicts, has now moved the apex court with the petition, his lawyer AP Singh said.

The top court had earlier dismissed the review pleas by Mukesh (30), Pawan Gupta (23) and Vinay Sharma (24), saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the verdict.

The apex court in its 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court in the case of gangrape and murder of the woman here.

One of the accused in the case, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail here.            

A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term. 

‘Nirbhaya’, meaning fearless, is the changed name of the 23-year-old physiotherapy intern, who was raped and brutalised in a moving bus in south Delhi by six men, including the bus driver, conductors and helpers, on December 16, 2012.

After receiving treatment in New Delhi for a few days, she was transferred to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where she succumbed to her injuries on December 29, 2012.

All the accused in the case, including a juvenile, were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder. One of them, Ram Singh, died in police custody. The rest went on trial in a fast-track court.

The juvenile was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment in a reform facility.

On September 10, 2013, the four remaining adult accused were found guilty of rape and murder and three days later, sentenced to death by hanging.

On March 13, 2014, the Delhi High Court upheld the verdict and the death sentences. PTI