The Supreme Court on January 20 commenced hearing the plea of a death-row convict in the Nirbhaya case against a Delhi High Court order dismissing his claim that he was a juvenile when the crime was committed.
A bench headed by Justice R Banumathi is hearing the plea of convict Pawan Kumar Gupta.
Gupta’s counsel told the bench that the convict was minor at the time of commission of offence in December 2012 and the High Court had wrongly dismissed the plea.
The bench said the claim of being a juvenile was not taken initially during trial in the Nirbhaya case. However, Gupta’s lawyer contended that it was taken as a ‘mitigating circumstance’ at the time of sentencing in the case.
Gupta had moved the apex court on January 17. He has also sought a direction restraining the authorities from executing the death penalty, scheduled for February 1.
A Delhi court on January 17 issued fresh death warrants for February 1 against the four convicts — Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Akshay Kumar Singh and Pawan — in the case.
