Summary
The Supreme Court dismissed Vinay Sharma’s and Pawan Kumar Gupta’s review petitions against confirmation of their convictions and death sentences in the December 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case. Evidentiary, alibi and age objections had already been examined and disclosed no review ground. Abolition elsewhere did not invalidate a sentence authorised by Indian law and upheld in Bachan Singh.
Issues
- Whether renewed challenges to the evidence, alibi, age findings and death penalty justified review of the concluded appeals.
Provisions considered
- Article 137, Constitution of IndiaReview requires material apparent error or manifest injustice; it cannot be used simply to reargue a concluded criminal appeal. (¶¶ 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 44)
- Order XLVII Rule 1, Supreme Court Rules, 2013Applied the rule limiting criminal review to apparent error, with the constitutional power available to remedy manifest injustice. (¶¶ 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
- Section 302, Indian Penal Code, 1860The statutory death penalty remained constitutionally valid under Bachan Singh; abolition in other jurisdictions supplied no review ground. (¶¶ 24, 25, 26)
Held
- Review does not permit a fresh merits hearing or repetition of rejected arguments. Another possible view of conviction or sentence is insufficient without material apparent error causing miscarriage of justice. (¶¶ 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
- Bachan Singh upheld the constitutional validity of section 302’s death-penalty alternative. Abolition in other countries did not make its lawful imposition in an appropriate Indian case illegal. (¶¶ 24, 25, 26)
- General allegations against investigators, and renewed challenges to the eyewitness, bus identification, dying declarations and DNA evidence, disclosed no error warranting review; those evidentiary issues had been considered in the appeals. (¶¶ 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37)
- Vinay’s musical-programme alibi and video evidence had been examined and rejected, while forensic evidence supported his presence in the bus. The trial material also supported rejection of both petitioners’ juvenility claims and Vinay’s ossification-test request. (¶¶ 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
- After a prolonged appellate hearing addressing all submissions, no ground for review was established. (¶ 44)
Result
Review petitions dismissed. The judgments confirming the petitioners’ convictions and death sentences remain undisturbed.