The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed curative petitions filed by two death row convicts – Vinay Kumar Sharma and Mukesh Singh -- in 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case.
A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana rejected the curative petitions filed by Vinay (26) and Mukesh (32).
The proceedings were conducted in-chamber.
The other two convicts -- Pawan Gupta and Akshay -- have not sought any relief yet.
The five judges were unanimous that there was no merit in the curative petitions filed by the two condemned petitioners.
"The applications for stay of execution of death sentence are also rejected. We have gone through the Curative Petitions and the relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra & Another, reported in 2002 (4) SCC 388. Hence, the Curative Petitions are dismissed," the bench said.
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The other members of the bench were Justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan.
Vinay and Mukesh had filed curative petitions on January 9.
A Delhi court had issued a death warrant on January 7 directing the Tihar Jail, where the four convicts are lodged, to hang them at 7 AM on January 22.
Soon after the warrant, Vinay and Mukesh filed two separate curative petitions and pleaded for a stay on the death sentence.
A curative petition is the last legal recourse for relief from hanging. The next step would be a mercy petition before the President of India or the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.
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(With inputs from PTI)
