Nirbhaya gang rape convict Pawan Gupta files Curative Petition before Supreme Court four days before his execution

Four days before he and the three other convicts in the Nirbhaya Delhi gang rape case are scheduled to be executed, Pawan Gupta has filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court seeking to set aside its judgment passed on May 5, 2017..By that verdict, the Court had upheld the death sentence awarded to the four convicts..Gupta’s curative petition prays for his death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment. He has contended that his age was not determined in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act, and that in turn, that has led to miscarriage of justice. .He has claimed that his school register records his date of birth as October 8, 1996. However, the same could not be placed on record during the review proceedings, as this piece of evidence was made available to him only on December 12 last year, the petition submits. .The petitioner further submitted that "the further new evidence suggests that respondent State has suppressed material evidence which it had obtained.".It is further submitted that the plea of juvenility can be raised at any stage, even after the final disposal of proceedings. .In the light of the above, the petitioner has prayed to allow the curative petition and to set aside the Apex Court's judgment passed almost three years ago..Advocate AP Singh, along with four other advocates, has drawn the petition..Last month, the Supreme Court had dismissed the juvenility plea of Pawan Gupta. .The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to March 5 the hearing on the Centre’s plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s verdict that said the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case cannot be executed separately..Two weeks ago, a Delhi Court had issued a fresh death warrant directing that all the four accused be hanged on March 3, at 6:00 am. .Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had dismissed co-convict Vinay Sharma's plea challenging the rejection of his mercy petition by the President of India.