Nirbhaya Case: SC To Hear Convict Pawan Gupta's Curative Plea Today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Monday, conduct an 'in chamber' hearing of the curative plea filed by of one of the four death row convicts, Pawan Kumar Gupta, in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case. The hanging of the four death row convicts, Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Kumar Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Singh (31) is scheduled for March 3 at 6 am, as per the death warrants issued by the Patiala House Court on February 17.

A five-judge bench of the apex Court headed by Justice Ramana will hear the convict's curative petition. Pawan Gupta, 25, filed the plea through his lawyer A P Singh, claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime. He has sought commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment.

Pawan's curative plea will be the last option open to him. The other death row convicts in the case have exhausted all the legal remedies available to them. Two death row convicts, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Singh moved the Patiala House Court on Saturday seeking stay on the execution of death warrants.

Akshay has cited his fresh mercy petition before the President of India, while Pawan submitted that he had moved a curative plea before the apex Court. The trial court has sought a response from Tihar Jail authorities by Monday.

The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed separate petitions filed by Mukesh Singh and Vinay Sharma challenging the rejection of their mercy petitions by the President of India. Akshay Singh is yet to challenge the rejection of his mercy petition.