Nirbhaya Case: Chief Justice Opts Out Of Hearing Review Plea Of Convict

Chief Justice of India SA Bobde has opted out of hearing a petition in the Nirbhaya case, saying one of the advocates who represented the woman's mother is a family member. A new bench will begin hearing the case tomorrow morning. Akshay Singh, one of the five men convicted for the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi in 2012, had sought review of his death penalty. He has filed a petition saying life in Delhi is being shortened anyway due to the rising air and water pollution.

"I was hoping that the review petition will be rejected today," the woman's mother said. "Like we have waited for 7 years, we will wait for one more day. Hopefully the review petition will be rejected tomorrow and they will be hanged soon," she told reporters.

The court had dismissed the review petitions filed by the other three convicts-- Mukesh, 30, Pawan Gupta, 23, and Vinay Sharma, 24, -- in the case in July last year.

The 23-year-old paramedic student was tortured and gangraped on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi. She and her male friend, who was also beaten up, were thrown out of the bus naked and bleeding.

One of the six men accused was a juvenile.

After fighting for life for two weeks, the woman, who came to be dubbed "Nirbhaya", meaning "fearless", had died at a hospital in Singapore.

The case had made headlines across the world due to the brutality of the attack, and led to a change in rape laws involving juveniles.

The woman's parents had asked that the capital punishment of the accused be carried out on December 16, exactly seven years after the crime was committed. The top court will hear their plea on December 18, after the hearing of Akshay Singh's appeal.