The Delhi High Court on Thursday adjourned till January 24 the petition filed by one of the death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya rape case claiming that he was a juvenile at the time of the offence. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait adjourned the matter after convict Pawan Kumar Gupta’s lawyer, advocate A P Singh, sought time to file fresh documents. Justice Kait allowed the counsel to take another date in 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, in his plea, had stated that since he was juvenile in 2012 when the rape was committed, he should be treated under the Juvenile Justice Act. He argued that the claim of juvenility can be raised at any time even after the final disposal of the case. “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,” stated the petition. The case pertains to for rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical student by six men on a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012. Gupta, along with three others – Akshay, Vinay and Mukesh – is facing the gallows in the case. The main accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail during the trial. Another accused was a minor at the time of the commission of the crime and was sent to a reform facility and released after three years.
