Nirbhaya convict’s juvenility claim dismissed

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 20

The Supreme Court today dismissed convict Pawan Kumar Gupta’s petition against a Delhi High Court order rejecting his claim that he was juvenile at the time of committing the crime on December 16, 2012.

A three-judge Bench of Justice R Banumathi, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice AS Bopanna rejected Pawan’s plea saying his claim had repeatedly been considered by courts at various levels.

Pawan, who is scheduled to be executed along with three other convicts on February 1 at Tihar Jail here, can file a mercy petition before the President.

Pawan’s counsel AP Singh had claimed that there was additional material to show that he was a juvenile at the time of commission of the offence and hence he could not be tried in a court. Instead, the case against him should have been referred to the Juvenile Justice Board.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pointed out that Pawan’s birth certificate was on record before the sessions court in 2013 when his claim of juvenility was rejected. Even his parents had admitted that he was a major, he submitted.

“It would be a travesty of justice if he is allowed to raise this claim at this stage after all courts have already rejected it once,” Mehta contended.

After hearing Singh and Mehta, the top court rejected Pawan’s claim. Considering the earlier orders passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate on January 10, 2013, the Delhi High Court’s verdict dated March 13, 2014 and the top court’s order of July 9, 2018, the Bench said the High Court rightly dismissed his revision petition. “We do not find any ground warranting interference with the impugned order,” it said.