SC rejects plea of Nirbhaya convict
◗ The matter was raised in the review petition before the SC, which rejected plea of juvenility taken by Pawan and another coaccused Vinay Kumar Sharma
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the plea of a death row convict in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case challenging the Delhi high court order which had dismissed his claim of being a juvenile at the time of commission of offence.
The Supreme Court Monday rejected the plea of a death row convict in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case challenging the Delhi High Court order which had dismissed his claim of being a juvenile at the time of offence saying he cannot re-agitate the issue by filing fresh application.
A bench, comprising Justices R. Banumathi, dismissed the plea of death row convict Pawan Kumar Gupta and upheld the Delhi High Court verdict. The apex court said there was no ground to interfere with the high court order that rejected Pawan’s plea and his claim was rightly rejected by the trial court as also the high court.
It said the matter was raised earlier in the review petition before the apex court, which rejected plea of juvenility taken by
Pawan and another coaccused Vinay Kumar Sharma and that order has attained finality.
“Once a convict has chosen to take the plea of juvenility before the Magistrate, High Court and also before the Supreme Court and the said plea has been rejected up to the Supreme Court, the petitioner cannot be allowed to re-agitate the plea of juvenility by filing fresh application under Section 7A of the Juvenile Justice Act,” the bench said.
“Considering the earlier orders passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate dated January 10, 2013 and the judgment of the HC dated March 13, 2014 and the order passed by Supreme Court dated July 9, 2018, in our view, the single judge of the Delhi HC rightly dismissed the revision petition. We do not find any ground warranting interference with the impugned order,” said the bench, also comprising Justices Ashok Bushan and A.S. Bopanna.