New Delhi: The Supreme Court today dismissed Pawan Gupta’s plea for a stay on the death penalty.
The petition was taken up by a five-member bench headed by Justice NV Ramana. The writ petition and mercy plea of the other three accused were rejected. However, one of the accused, Akshay Thakur, has filed a second mercy petition.
Pawan’s plea seeking to reduce the death sentence to life imprisonment. Pawan Gupta will be the first to file a correction petition in the case.
The Delhi Patiala House has on February 17 ordered the execution of the accused in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case which shocked the world’s conscience. The four accused, Vinay, Mukesh, Pawan, and Akshay, were ordered to be hanged at 6 am tomorrow. On January 17 and January 31, the sentencing order was reversed twice.
Meanwhile, as the defendants’ pleas remain, the verdict of today’s death sentence in the Nirbhaya case will be decided today.
Nirbhaya was brutally molested in a bus on December 16, 2012. Nirbhaya died at the Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore on December 29.
