'Why Death Penalty When Delhi Air Is Already Reducing Life': Nirbhaya Convict's Absurd Plea In SC

The petition filed by the convict points out law and argues that Akshay was incorrectly convicted in the case and seeks review stating that capital punishment are being abolished in various countries.

A review petition was filed by Akshay before the Supreme Court on the death sentence given to him. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: One of the four convicts, Akshay Kumar Singh, on Tuesday moved Supreme Court seeking review of 2017 judgment of awarding all the convicts death penalties in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case. A review petition was filed by Akshay before the Supreme Court on the death sentence given to him by the apex court. However, in his review petition mentioned a strange reason demanding withdrawal of his death penalty since life in Delhi is anyway getting 'shorter' due to increasing air and water pollution. Yes, you read it right! This was the absurd argument mentioned in the plea filed by Askshay requesting the Supreme Court to review his conviction in the gruesome crime that he committed. Akshay, 31, who had not filed the review plea earlier with the other three convicts, has now moved the apex court with the petition, his lawyer A P Singh said. The apex court, on July 9, 2018, had dismissed the review pleas filed by three other convicts in the case. The petition filed by the convict points out law and argues that Akshay was incorrectly convicted in the case and seeks review stating that capital punishment are being abolished in various countries. A subsection of his review petition read: That is important to pertain here that Air Quality of Delhi NCR and metro city is burst and like a gas chamber and not only this the water of Delhi NCR and metro city is also full of poison, this fact proved by Govt. of India in his report, which was submitted in the Parliament House. Everyone is aware of what is happening in Delhi NCR in regard water and air. Life is going short to short, then why death penalty? [sic]

'निर्भया' के गुनाहगार अक्षय ने रिव्यू पेटिशन में अजीब दलील दी। कहा- दिल्ली में बहुत ज़्यादा वायु प्रदूषण। शहर गैस चैंबर बना हुआ है। पानी की क्वालिटी भी बहुत ख़राब है। इससे लोग वैसे ही मर रहे हैं। फांसी की सजा देने की क्या ज़रूरत है pic.twitter.com/XKqftF1OKQ

— Nipun Sehgal (@Sehgal_Nipun) December 10, 2019

23-year-old paramedic student was brutally gang-raped on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a running bus in South Delhi by six persons and severely assaulted before being thrown out on the road. She succumbed to injuries on December 29, 2012, at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. The top court had earlier dismissed the review pleas by Mukesh (30), Pawan Gupta (23) and Vinay Sharma (24), saying no grounds have been made out by them for review of the verdict. The apex court in its 2017 verdict had upheld the capital punishment awarded to them by the Delhi High Court and the trial court in the case of gangrape and murder of the woman here. One of the accused in the case, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail. A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term. Earlier in the day, one of the convicts Pawan Gupta, who was lodged in Delhi’s Mandoli jail, was shifted to Tihar jail. Now all the four convicts in the case are lodged in Tihar amid tight security.  The move has further triggered the speculation that they are likely to be hanged soon. An officer in Tihar jail also said that the maintenance of ‘phansi kothi’ has started. Meanwhile, the chief secretary of Delhi government met with the union home secretary at his office on Tuesday. As per sources the two held important discussion over the convicts of the Nirbhaya case. Also, a jail in Buxar district of Bihar, has been directed to keep 10 pieces ready by the end of this week, triggering speculations that these might be meant for the 2012 Nirbhaya case convicts.