Heena Sharma Blog

Delhi gang-rape victim Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi on Thursday contended that the convicts have exhausted all the legal remedies. Speaking to ANI, she said, "The four convicts have exhausted all legal remedies. I hope that a fresh death warrant will be issued by the court today." Yesterday she thanked President Ram Nath Kovind for rejecting the mercy petition of Pawan Gupta, one of the four death row convicts in the case. The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in Delhi. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later. Read More

Supreme Court will on Monday hear the curative petition filed by one of the four death row convicts, Pawan Kumar Gupta, seeking commutation of his death penalty to life imprisonment in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case . Gupta had on Friday filed a curative petition before the apex court seeking commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment. He is the fourth convict in the case to file a curative petition. The Supreme Court has already rejected the curative petitions of the remaining three. This comes as a fresh death warrant has been issued for the four convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh, which orders their hanging at 6 am on March 3 at Delhi's Tihar Jail. Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a curative petition filed by convict Pawan Kumar Gupta who was sentenced to death in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case . A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana said that no case is made out for re-examining the conviction and the punishment of the convict. Other members of the bench were justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan. The Supreme Court has already rejected the curative petitions of the remaining three convicts. A fresh death warrant has also been issued for the four convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh -- setting the time of their hanging at 6 am on March 3 at Delhi's Tihar Jail. The mercy petitions of three convicts -- Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay -- have already been dismissed by the President. Read More

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear a petition, filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), seeking a direction to execute the death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case separately. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice R Banumathi and also comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and Navin Sinha, will hear the plea today. The Centre moved the apex court after the Delhi High Court had rejected its petition. Delhi High Court had on February 5, stated that that death warrant of all convicts in the Nirbhaya case should be executed together. The High Court had observed that Delhi prison rules do not state whether when the mercy petition of one convict is pending, the execution of the other convicts can take place and from the trial court to Supreme Court all convicts have been held by a common order and a common judgment. Read More

The lawyer for the death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case Thursday moved a Delhi court seeking a stay on their executions scheduled for February 1, saying legal remedies of some of them are yet to be availed. The plea was mentioned before Special Judge A K Jain who said it will be heard later in the day. The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 in a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons before being thrown out on the road. She died on December 29, 2012 at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. Read More

The Supreme Court will hear at 12.45 pm on Monday the plea of a death row convict in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case against a Delhi High Court order dismissing his claim that he was a juvenile when the crime was committed. Pawan Kumar Gupta's plea will be heard by a bench of Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bushan and A S Bopanna. Gupta had moved the apex court on Friday. He has also sought a direction restraining the authorities from executing the death penalty, scheduled for February 1. A Delhi court on Friday issued fresh death warrants for February 1 against the four convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Akshay Kumar Singh and Pawan -- in the case. A 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gangraped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 in a moving bus in south Delhi by six persons before she was thrown out on the road. Read More

The Delhi government Wednesday told the high court that execution of the death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case will not take place on January 22 as a mercy plea has been filed by one of them. The four convicts -- Vinay Sharma (26), Mukesh Kumar (32), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) -- are to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. A Delhi court had issued their death warrants on January 7. Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal were told by the Delhi government and the Centre that the petition filed by convict Mukesh, challenging his death warrant, was premature. The Delhi government and the prison authorities informed the court that under the rules, it will have to wait for the mercy plea to be decided before executing the death warrant. They also said that none of the four convicts can be executed on January 22 unless the present mercy plea is decided. Read More

The mother of the victim in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case moved the Supreme Court on Friday opposing the plea filed by one of the four death-row convicts seeking review of its 2017 judgement awarding him death penalty. The counsel appearing for the victim's mother mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde and said they are opposing convict Akshay Kumar Singh's review plea, which is scheduled to be heard by a three-judge bench on December 17. The apex court had on July 9 last year dismissed the review pleas filed by the other three convicts -- Mukesh (30), Pawan Gupta (23) and Vinay Sharma (24) -- in the case, saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the 2017 verdict. A 23-year-old paramedic student, who came to be known as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in south Delhi by six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. She