Days after death warrant, Nirbhaya case convict files curative plea before Supreme Court

One of the convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case, Vinay Kumar Sharma, filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court on Thursday, days after a Delhi court fixed the date for hanging the four convicts.

A Delhi Court had issued a death warrant against four convicts on January 7 and they are scheduled to be executed on January 22 at 7 am in the Tihar Jail premises.

Besides Vinay, other convicts Pawan, Akshay, and Mukesh Singh are facing the gallows. The court after issuing a black warrant in their name gave them two weeks'time to file both the curative and mercy petition.

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A curative petition is the last judicial resort available for redressal of grievances. It is decided by the judges in-chamber.

The mercy petition, on the other hand, is filed before the President who has the power to commute it to life imprisonment.

The case pertains to the gang-rape of a woman by six persons on a moving bus in the national capital on the night of December 16, 2012.

The victim, who was later given the name Nirbhaya, died at a hospital in Singapore where she had been airlifted for medical treatment.