more-in The Supreme Court on Monday reserved for judgment appeals filed by four death row convicts against death penalty in the December 16, 2012 gang-rape and murder case. A year after it started hearing their appeals, a Special Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra wrapped up the marathon hearings conducted almost on a day-to-day basis every week in the past many months. Push for death penalty The arguments ended with senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the Delhi Police, strongly pushing for death penalty for the convicts as a proportionate punishment for their “brutal crime”. “They haven’t given any mitigating circumstances which could warrant reduction of the sentence from death penalty which was awarded to them,” Mr. Luthra argued. Amicus and senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, however, opposed, asking the court to consider sentencing the convicts to a life in prison. Young age cited Advocates A.P. Singh and M.L. Sharma, appearing for the convicts, asked the court to consider their family background and young age as mitigating factors. The convicts — Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh — have approached the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court’s order which had confirmed the death penalty awarded to them by the trial court. The 23-year-old was assaulted and raped by six persons in a moving bus in south Delhi and thrown out of the vehicle with her male friend on the night of December 16, 2012. She had died in a Singapore hospital on December 29. The Supreme Court had earlier prima facie agreed with the contention of the amicus that Section 235 of the CrPC – which provides that a trial court should individually hear a convict before sentencing him – was not followed in this case.

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