New Delhi:  The Supreme Court today confirmed the death sentence of one of the four convicts in the 2012 gang-rape, torture and killing of a young para-medical student, who came to be known as ‘Nirbhaya.’ The convict had questioned the woman’s dying declaration and argued in Court that he deserved mercy as the “pressure to implicate him had been overlooked” and there had been inefficiency to catch the “real perpetrators.”

“The convict doesn’t deserve any lenience. God would feel ashamed of creating such a monster. There are certain crimes where ‘humanity cries’ and this case is one of them,” said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, contesting the convict’s petition.

There was media and public pressure to implicate Akshay Singh, the convict’s lawyer A.P. Singh argued as his petition was heard by three Judges. The lawyer said the dying declaration of Nirbhaya was “doubtful and cannot be relied upon.” 

Claiming “new facts”, convict Akshay Singh’s lawyer also said a CBI inquiry was never carried out in the case and referred to the case of the killing of a Delhi schoolboy in which a bus conductor first arrested by the Police was cleared by the CBI.

A new Bench heard the review petition after Chief Justice S.A. Bobde recused himself on Tuesday, saying one of his relatives had represented Nirbhaya.

The review petitions of the three other convicts, Mukesh, 30, Pawan Gupta, 23, and Vinay Sharma, 24, had been dismissed earlier. Of the six accused of Nirbhaya’s rape and murder, four were convicted, Ram Singh committed suicide and a juvenile was released after three years in a reform home.