Nirbhaya case: SC stays hanging of two convicts

It stayed the execution of Vinay Sharma (21) and Akshay Thakur (29), who were convicted along with other two — Mukesh (27) and Pawan Gupta (20) — whose death sentence has already been stayed. Vinay and Akshay had moved the apex court seeking a stay on their execution and reversal of the Delhi high court verdict upholding their conviction and the punishment.

The court proceedings also witnessed some confusion as the bench queried whether it could hear the plea in the light of observation made by Chief Justice RM Lodha that the cases of death convicts be heard by not less than a three-judge bench. The bench called for Supreme Court registrar who said no such notification has been issued so far in this regard. The bench then went ahead with the hearing and passed the stay order.

The Delhi high court had on March 13 this year upheld their conviction and award of death penalty by terming the offence as ‘extremely fiendish’ and ‘unparallelled in the history of criminal jurisprudence’ and said the ‘exemplary punishment’ was the need of the hour. It had also said if this case was not ‘the rarest of rare cases’ then ‘there is likely to be none’.

Besides seeking setting aside of the high court verdict, Vinay and Akshay, in their appeal, have sought a stay on their execution as an interim relief. The petition has said the judgment be set aside as there was no ‘substance or material piece of evidence’ and there were contradictions in the depositions of the victim and her friend, who had accompanied her in the bus, about the offence and the offenders. The petition has said the testimony of the SDM cannot be relied on as she had deposed that the victim was ‘comfortable, happy and willing to record her statement.’ ‘Whether a patient who is on ventillator ... can be happy and comfortable?,’ it has said.

Disputing the veracity of the dying declaration of the victim, it has said she was not fit enough to record her statement and hence, the statement made through gestures cannot be relied upon. ‘The HC failed to appreciate before awarding death sentence to appellant Vinay Sharma that he was juvenile at the time of the incident ...’ it has said.