Nirbhaya case: High Court adjourns convict Pawan Gupta's plea to January 24
The Delhi High Court on Thursday adjourned till January 24 the petition filed by one of the death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of offence. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait adjourned the matter after convict Pawan Kumar Gupta's lawyer, advocate AP Singh, sought time to file fresh documents. Justice Kait allowed the counsel to take another date in the criminal revision petition filed by Gupta, who claimed his ossification test was not done at that point and he should be given the benefit of that.
Convict Pawan Gupta, in his plea, had stated that since he was juvenile in 2012 when the rape was committed, he should be treated under the Juvenile Justice Act.
He argued that he claim of juvenility can be raised at any time even after the final disposal of the case.
"Ossification test of the petitioner was conducted by the investigating officers. The age verification report filed by the investigating officers could not be relied upon. The convict should be treated as a juvenile under the Juvenile Justice Act," the petition stated.
This was after a sessions court on Wednesday set January 7 as the next hearing of Pawan's co-accused Akshay Kumar Singh's plea.
Nirbhaya was brutally gang raped and murdered on December 16, 2012 by five man and a juvenile in a moving bus.
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(With inputs from ANI)
