2012 Nirbhaya Delhi gang-rape case: Convict files curative petition in Supreme Court days before hanging

NEW DELHI: 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.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.