With just 13 days left for the execution of the death warrant issued by the Patiala House Court, one of the four Nirbhaya gangrape convicts on Thursday filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court, saying he was only 19 when he committed the crime.
Vinay Sharma, along with Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur and Mukesh Singh, is scheduled to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am.
Vinay’s petition argues a case of media trial whereby the courts were prompted by nation-wide public and media outcry against the four accused, which compelled death sentence upon them.
It also states that while dismissing the review petition, the apex court failed to note that the young age and socio-economic background should have worked as mitigating factors. The petition equates Vinay’s position with the only juvenile accused in the case, who was 17 and Vinay 19, and therefore the law should be merciful to Vinay too.
The petition, filed by Advocate Sadashiv, also argues that subsequent judicial pronouncements have definitively changed the law on death sentences in India as capital punishment is increasingly getting commuted to life imprisonment.
Vinay Sharma has also asked the court to consider the family, who already impoverished in the years of court battle, would be completely devastated if their son were to hang.
In the meantime, Tihar authorities have stepped up preparations for the execution.
— India Legal Bureau
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