SC to hear Nirbhaya case convicts' plea against sentencing
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a plea submitted by convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape case claiming that there were six "fundamental errors" in the sentencing procedure. The plea claimed the trial court did not consider the special circumstances of each of the accused. The SC will decide when to rehear sentencing of the case on February 6.
In a dramatic twist in the December 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the sentencing of all four accused. The top court today accepted submissions made by amicus curiae in the case, Raju Ramachandran, that there has been a procedural error in sentencing of the men. The trial court's verdict awarding death sentence to four of the convicts- Akshay, Vinay Sharma, Pawan and Mukesh was upheld by the Delhi High Court.In the last hearing on November 7,2016, Ramachandran, had asked the apex court to set aside the death penalty awarded to the accused.THE BACKGROUND: Six people, including a juvenile, had brutally assaulted a 23-year-old  woman in a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012.Later, the accused threw out the victim and her male friend at an isolated spot after the savage attack. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29, 2012, triggering nation-wide protests that resulted in giving more teeth to laws related to rape and other forms of sexual harassment. 