Pawan Kumar Gupta, one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case, had moved the court claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence in 2012 and should be treated under the Juvenile Justice Act
New Delhi: The Delhi high court, on Thursday (December 19) adjourned the hearing in the plea of one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case who claimed that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime in 2012.
The court has adjourned the hearing for one over a month (till January 24) and given the convict's lawyer time to submit new documents.
Earlier, Pawan Kumar Gupta, one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya case, had moved the court claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence in 2012 and should be treated under the Juvenile Justice Act.
Gupta had stated in his petition that the claim of juvenility could be raised at any time even after the final disposal of the case.
"No 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," adds the petition.
Besides Pawan Kumar Gupta, three other convicts -- Mukesh, Akshay, and Vinay -- are facing the gallows for rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012. The girl, who was later named Nirbhaya, died of injuries a few days later.
The prime accused Ram Singh committed suicide in Tihar jail during the trial of the case.
In 2013, a fast-track court had held the four guilty in the case. Their conviction was also upheld by the Delhi high court and the Supreme Court later.
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