Nirbhaya gang-rape: Death penalty or life-term for four convicts? SC to decide today

Six people, including a juvenile, had brutally assaulted the 23-year-old paramedic in a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Friday deliver the verdict on the appeals by four accused in December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape convicts, who have challenged the Delhi High Court verdict upholding their death sentence.

The bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice R Banumathi and Justice Ashok Bhushan are expected to pronounce the order at 2 pm today.

Six people, including a juvenile, had brutally assaulted the 23-year-old paramedic in a moving bus in South Delhi. After committing the vcrime, both were thrown out of the vehicle with her male friend on the night of December 16, 2012. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29, 2012, triggering nation-wide protests that resulted in giving more teeth to laws related to rape and other forms of sexual harassment.

The four convicts - Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh - along with late Ram Singh and a juvenile had committed the horriffic crime, which had shaken the entire nation's conscience.

The juvenile accused has been released after completing mandatory probation period in a remand home. Ram Singh allegedly committed suicide while in incarceration.

The SC had, on March 27, reserved its verdict on the appeal of the four convict, against the conviction and death penalty awarded to them by the high court on March 13, 2014.

The top court will also look into the issue of quantum of sentence to the convicts as it has been alleged that the trial court did not separately consider "mitigating" circumstances of each convict while sending them to the gallows.

The police had told the bench that the horrific crime committed by these men warranted death penalty and the test of being a "rarest of rare" case was satisfied in this matter and the court should also consider the effect of crime committed by them on the victim and the society at large.

The high court, in its verdict, had observed that their offence fell in the rarest of the rare category and had upheld the death sentence awarded to them by the trial court.

(With agencies inputs)