Chhawla rape and murder: Supreme Court dismisses review petitions challenging acquittal of death row convicts

The Supreme Court earlier this month dismissed review petitions against its November 2022 judgment acquitting the three death-row convicts in the 2012 Chhawla gangrape and murder case [State of NCT of Delhi, Ministry of Home Affairs vs Rahul and ors]..The order was passed on March 2 but was published on the apex court website today.A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi noted that none of the pleas in the batch of review petitions had pointed to any error apparent on the face of the record which is the ground on which a review of the top court's judgment can be sought."After having considered the judgment and other documents on record, we do not find any error either factual or legal, apparent on the face of record requiring review of the aforestated judgment passed by this Court," the Court said.The Court also rejected the argument advanced by the State that one of the accused had committed a murder after his release from prison following the top court's acquittal.The review plea had argued that in view of such conduct, the accused is a hardened criminal who has abused the benevolence of the court.But the Court did not accept the argument."Even if an event, which has no nexus to the instant case had taken place subsequent to the pronouncement of the judgment that would not be a ground to entertain the review petitions," the Court made it clear..The case concerned the death of a 19-year-old girl, who was kidnapped and allegedly forced into a red-coloured Tata Indica at Delhi's Chhawla.Her dead body was later found in the fields of Rodai village. The police subsequently apprehended the three accused after one of them was found looking perplexed and allegedly driving the car in question.A trial court had convicted them for the offences of gang-rape, murder and causing disappearance of evidence in 2014. They were then given the death penalty.The Delhi High Court had dismissed the appeals of the three accused, leading to an appeal before the top court, following which they were acquitted last year.The Supreme Court had in its order passed last November reasoned that courts cannot punish accused persons on the basis of moral conviction.Subsequently, Delhi Lieutenant-Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena had approved the filing of a review petition against the judgment. In December 2022, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court refused to urgently list the plea seeking a review of the judgment acquitting the three.The matter was subsequently heard by a three-judge bench which upheld the verdict of acquittal..The top court in its order also said the review applications filed by an anti-rape activist and two non-government organisations were not maintainable in a criminal appeal.[Read order]