Nirbhaya Case: Days before hanging convicts, SC to hear two curative pleas

Supreme Court is set to hear curative petitions filed by two convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case on Tuesday afternoon.

The pleas will be heard by a five-judge bench at 1:45 pm. The petitions have been filed by Vinay Sharma (26) and Mukesh Kumar (32), two of the four men currently on death row in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case.

A curative petition is the last and final judicial remedy available to a person convicted by courts of law. If the Supreme Court rejects the curative petitions filed by Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Kumar, the two will have the option of seeking mercy before the President.

Justices N V Ramana, Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan will hear the petitions, in chamber. Justices Banumathi and Bhushan - in 2017 originally upheld the convictions in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, and confirmed the death penalties to the four men. They were also part of the bench that in 2018 rejected review petitions filed by three of the four convicts, including Vinay and Mukesh.

The Supreme Court hearing Tuesday comes days after a Delhi court issued 'death warrants' for the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case and set January 22 as the date of their hangings.

Two of the four convicts -- Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) -- have not yet filed curative petitions. All four have previously filed review petitions, which have been rejected by the Supreme Court.