Nirbhaya: Six judge SC Bench to hear convict’s curative plea

New Delhi, Mar 19: A six judge Bench of the Supreme Court will hear the curative petition filed by Pawan Gupta, one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya case. He had challenged the rejection of his mercy petition by the President. The hanging of the four convicts is slated for tomorrow.

Meanwhile the Delhi High Court dismissed the plea of Mukesh Singh, one of the four death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, that challenged a trial court order which rejected his claim he was not in the national capital when the crime was committed on December 16, 2012.

Justice Brijesh Sethi said there were no grounds to interfere in the detailed and reasoned order of the trial court.

The high court further said there was nothing on record to suggest that the trial in the case stood vitiated due to concealment of any material evidence.

"There is, thus, no infirmity, illegality or irregularity in the order passed by the trial court," the high court said and dismissed Mukesh' plea.

On Tuesday, the trial court had dismissed his plea and had asked the Bar Council of India to give appropriate sensitisation exercise to his counsel.

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