The Supreme Court has announced death sentence for all the four convicts in the December 16 gangrape case. The apex court while terming it as a ‘rarest of rare case’ said that there can be no mercy for the killers. “If ever a case called for hanging, this was it,” the bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice R. Banumathi said while delivering the judgement.
Along with Nirbhaya’s parents, Delhi Police too hailed the judgement saying that their stand has been vindicated. So it is the end of the road for the rapist? Not quite yet. The convicts still have some options left. These are:
1) They can file a review petition challenging the judgment given by the Supreme Court. But the bench hearing the review petition must have at least four judges since as per the law, the bench hearing the review must have a bigger team than the one that delivered the decision.
Lawyer of the convicts AP Singh has already said that justice has not been done in the case and they will file a review petition for the same.
2) If the decision does not turn in their favour, they can file for curative petition.
3) At the end of all, the last resort left with them is to seek mercy from the President. The President holds the power in the Constitution to grant pardon, suspend, remit or commute a sentence of death. It is not at his own will though that he can take that decision. His council of ministers recommends how he should act in the matter.
