Nirbhaya Case: 7 ridiculous claims made by convict's lawyer before SC over review plea

The Supreme Court is set to pronounce verdict at 1 pm on review plea filed by one of the 4 death row convicts in Nirbhaya case. A three-judge bench headed by Justice R Banumathi reserved its judgement on the review plea filed by death row convict Akshay Kumar Singh. Advocate in the rape case, AP Singh, appearing for the convict presented an absurd defence before the Supreme Court. He was given half an hour to argue the matter, in which he stated that the media pressure, political pressure and public pressure was resulting in the false implication of the convicts. Maintaining that the convicts were “innocent” and “vulnerable”, Singh cast aspersions over the investigation. Here are the most outrageous arguments presented by the convict's lawyers.

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• In the most despicable claim, AP Singh in his argument claimed that all six convicts could not have committed rape within 21 minutes in the bus. 
• Furthermore, the convict's lawyer claimed that the prosecution had forged the medical examination reports.
• Advocate AP Singh even levelled allegations that the Nirbhaya's friend, the sole eyewitness in the case gave his statement after reciving "bribes." 
• The advocate reiterated one of the ridiculous grounds in the review plea pertaining to the age being short in Kalyug. 
• AP Singh further argued that Nirbhaya's dying declarations had inconsistencies and cannot be relied upon. 
• Further alleged that the death of one of the convicts in Tihar jail was suspicious. Main accused in the Nirbhaya case, Ram Singh committed suicide in his cell in 2013. 
• Contending that rapists were not born, but created by society, he reckoned that the real culprit was society and the lack of education. 

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Arguing for the Delhi police, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta reiterated that all the arguments by AP Singh had been considered by all the courts. He further said that convicts in the Nirbhaya case don't deserve any leniency, God would feel ashamed on creating such "monster."

Nirbhaya rape case

A 23-year-old paramedic student Nirbhaya was gang-raped inside a running bus by six persons on December 16 in 2012 in Delhi. The victim was severely assaulted and thrown out on the road along with her male friend and succumbed to injuries a few days later. Out of the six convicts, one committed suicide in prison, while another, a juvenile, served maximum punishment of three years in a reform home and was set free in 2015.

The remaining four rapists were convicted and handed death sentence by a trial court in 2013, confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014. The Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court's verdict in 2017. In July 2018, the SC rejected the review pleas filed by the three convicts for a re-examination of its 2017 judgment. 

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