New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS): Vinay Sharma, death-row convict in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, in his curative petition before the Supreme Court said his entire family suffered due to the criminal proceedings.
"The petitioner is not the only person being punished, his entire family has suffered greatly as a result of the criminal proceedings. The family faced societal wrath and humiliation for no fault of theirs.
"The petitioner's parents are old and extremely poor. The case has been a huge drain on their resources and now they are left almost empty handed," stated the curative petition filed through senior advocate Adhis C. Aggarwala and Advocate A.P. Singh.
"The petitioner's father earns a meagre living. The family has no savings and live in the R.K. Puram Harijan Basti. If the petitioner is executed his entire family will be destroyed," it stated.
The plea further said, the state had no evidence in the form of psychiatric structured clinical judgment, based on the appellant's life in the prison (around 7 years) and life prior to it, in the background of his mental impairment, his adjustment to and interaction with other inmates and officials.
A Delhi court on Tuesday while issuing death warrants against the four convicts in the case observed "despite being afforded sufficient time and opportunity" they didn't exercise legal remedies.
"It's apparent from the record, sufficient time and opportunity was given to the convict to exercise and exhaust their remedies as available to them under the law. Either the remedies have been exercised and exhausted by the respondents or have not been resorted to," said Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora.
In these given facts and circumstances, when reasonable time and opportunity had been afforded to the convicts to exercise their remedies, there was nothing to delay any further in passing orders on the application seeking issuance of death warrants, the court said.
The court has set 7 a.m. on January 22 for their execution.
A 23-year-old woman was gang-raped and tortured on December 16, 2012, which led to her death. All the six accused were arrested and charged with sexual assault and murder.
One of the accused, a minor, and appeared before a juvenile justice court, while another committed suicide in Tihar Jail.
Four of the convicts were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013. The verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017, which also dismissed their review petitions.