December 16 gangrape: SC to hear convicts’ plea challenging death sentence

The Supreme Court will hear the plea on Monday by the December 16 gang rape convicts challenging the Delhi high court’s order.

The matter is being heard by the apex court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan.

The convicts -- Akshay, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh -- have challenged the HC order that sentenced them to the gallows after noting it was a rarest of rare case.

Earlier, the trial court also had sentenced all the four convicts to death penalty.

On February 3, SC accepted amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran’s submissions that there have been violation of procedure with regard to the sentencing of the four convicts. The accused were required to file their affidavits by February 23.

Six people gangraped a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern in a moving bus on December 16, 2012. The woman succumbed to her injuries at a Singapore hospital on thirteen days later.

One of the accused, Ram Singh hanged himself in prison, while another convict -- a juvenile at the time of the crime -- will serve the maximum sentence of three years at a reform home.

On December 3, amicus curiae Sanjay Hegde questioned the evidence produced by the prosecution in the gangrape case, and pointed out questions on the merit of evidence.

According to Hegde, one of the convicts, Mukesh, was not with the prime culprit Ram Singh when the offence was committed as their mobiles were tracked at different places that night.