Akshay Kumar Singh vs The State Nct Of Delhi

2. In the evening of 16.12.2012, the prosecutrix (since deceased) had gone for a movie with her friend, PW-1. At about Digitally signed by 08:45 pm, both the prosecutrix and PW-1 left the movie theatre and MAHABIR SINGH Date: 2019.12.18 16:00:46 IST Reason: reached Munirka bus stand and they boarded the bus bearing 1 registration No. DL-1PC-0149. This bus was being driven by accused Ram Singh (since deceased) and the petitioner-Akshay Kumar Singh @ Thakur was the helper thereof. The accused misbehaved with the prosecutrix and have committed gang rape of the prosecutrix in the moving bus. They also committed unnatural offence and inserted iron rod in the private parts of the prosecutrix. The accused persons had beaten up PW-1 with iron rods and his clothes were torn off. The accused also took away all the belongings of the prosecutrix and PW-1 and thereafter, threw the prosecutrix and PW-1 in a naked/semi naked condition from the moving bus. The prosecutrix was treated at Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi where her three dying declarations were recorded. Since the condition of the prosecutrix became critical, she was shifted for further treatment on 27.12.2012 to Mt. Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore where, she died on 29.12.2012.

3. The trial court held that the complicity and guilt of the accused were proved and convicted the petitioner and other accused under Sections 120-B IPC, 376 (2)(g) read with Section 120-B IPC, 377 read with Section 120-B IPC, 365 and 366 read with Section 120-B IPC, 395 read with Section 120-B IPC, 397 read with Section 120-B IPC, 302 read with Section 120-B IPC, 307 read with Section 120-B 2 IPC, 412 and 201 read with Section 120-B IPC and inter alia imposed death penalty upon them. Death penalty and other sentence of imprisonment imposed upon them was confirmed by the High Court. The accused had filed Criminal Appeal Nos.609-610 of 2017 before this Court.

4. Criminal appeal filed by the petitioner had earlier been dismissed by this Court vide its judgment dated 05.05.2017 in Mukesh and another v. State (NCT of Delhi) and others (2017) 6 SCC 1 on the basis of the following evidence which firmly established the presence of the petitioner at the scene of the incident and his involvement in the commission of rape on the prosecutrix :-

15. At this juncture, we would like to point out two grounds raised by the petitioner in this review petition viz., (i) futility of awarding death sentence in Kalyug, where a person is no better than a dead body; and (ii) that the level of pollution in Delhi NCR is so great that life is short anyhow and everyone is aware of what is happening in Delhi NCR in this regard and while so, there is no reason why death penalty should be awarded. According to the petitioner, in view of the above, he should be spared of the death sentence. We find it 9 unfortunate that such grounds have been raised in the matter as serious as the present case.

(iii) in the third dying declaration (Ex.PW-30/D) recorded on 25.12.2012 at 1.00 p.m by PW-30-Pawan Kumar, Metropolitan Magistrate by putting multiple choice questions to the victim and getting answers by gestures and writing. While giving third dying declaration, prosecutrix revealed the names of the accused by writing in her own handwriting viz. “Ram Singh, Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay, Vipin, Raju”. This Court considered the three dying declarations in the light of the well-settled principles and found that the multiple dying declarations inspire the confidence of the Court and are credible. The above contentions were earlier raised and were considered by this Court in paras (148) to (164), (186) to (192) and (395) to (417) of the judgment and rejected. While so, the petitioner cannot raise the same plea.

26. The next contention urged by the petitioner is the use of iron rod and absence of injury to the uterus on the alleged insertion of the iron rod in the private parts of the victim. Elaborate submissions were made on the alleged use of iron rod and the same was rejected by well-considered reasonings in Paras (193) to (209) and (413) to (422) and the said findings thereon supported by the opinion of the medical expert do not suffer from any error.

30. Dismissal of the review petitions filed by the co-accused:

31. We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record in the appreciation of evidence or the findings of the judgment dated 05.05.2017. None of the grounds raised in the review petition call for review of the judgment dated 05.05.2017. The review petition is dismissed.

December 18, 2019.