The Delhi High Court will on Thursday hear the plea of Pawan Kumar Gupta, one of the convicts in Nirbhaya case, who has moved the court claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence in 2012 and should be treated under the Juvenile Justice Act.
Justice Suresh Kumar Kait will hear the criminal revision petition filed by Gupta, who claimed his ossification test was not done at that point and he should be given the benefit of that.
Gupta has stated in his petition that the claim of juvenility can be raised at any time even after the final disposal of the case
"No ossification test of the petitioner was conducted by the investigating officers. The age verification report filed by the investigating officers could not be relied upon. The convict should be treated as a juvenile under the juvenile justice act," adds the petition.
Besides Pawan Kumar Gupta, three other convicts -- Mukesh, Akshay, and Vinay -- are facing the gallows for rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012. The girl, who was later named Nirbhaya, died of injuries a few days later.
The prime accused Ram Singh committed suicide in Tihar jail during the trial of the case.
In 2013, a fast-track court had held the four guilty in the case. Their conviction was also upheld by the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court later.