SC judge faints in courtroom

Supreme Court judge Justice R. Banumathi on Friday momentarily fainted in her chair while she was dictating an order adjourning the hearing on the Centre’s plea seeking separate hanging of three death row convicts in Nirbhaya case who have exhausted all their legal remedies and mercy petitions.

While dictating the order adjourning the hearing till February 20, Justice Banumathi became motionless and tilted towards her right but regained her composer as court staff escorted her to chamber.

The bench headed by Justice Banumathu is holding repeated hearing of the Nirbhaya case on one ground or the other.

After the rejection of the curative petitions by the convicts, the court is now, one after the other, is hearing challenge to the rejection of mercy petitions by the President.

The court is also hearing Centre and Delhi government’s plea for the separate hanging of the Nirbhaya convicts who have exhausted all their legal remedies.

Justice Banumathi and Justice Bhushan were also part of the bench then headed by Justice Dipak Misra (who later became CJI and since retired) which had heard and upheld the Delhi High Court verdict confirming the award of death sentence by the trial court.

The court adjourned the hearing for February 20 after it was informed that the trial court has fixed February 17 for hearing Centre and Delhi government’s application seeking issuance of fresh death warrants.

The bench comprising Justice Banumathi, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.S.Bopanna later passed the order in chamber. While deferring further hearing to Feb. 20, it made it clear that “the pendency of the petitions (before it) may not be treated as an impediment for the trial court to consider the matter on its own merit.”