Two Dec 16 Delhi gang-rape convicts reject court lawyers

NEW DELHI: Two of the four death-row convicts in the infamous Delhi gang rape case have written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur and justice Dipak Misra,

NEW DELHI: Two of the four death-row convicts in the infamous Delhi gang rape case have written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur and justice Dipak Misra, stating that they do not approve of the defence counsels appointed by the Supreme Court to argue their case.

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Justice Misra heads the top court bench that is hearing the appeals against their punishment.

In an incident that shocked the nation, six people had brutally assaulted and gang-raped a 23-year-old paramedical student before throwing her out of a moving bus in New Delhi on the night of December 16, 2012. She died in a Singapore hospital almost two weeks later.

Pavan Gupta (22) and Vinay Sharma (23), lodged in Tihar Jail, sent handwritten letters in Hindi to the two judges on July 2. Their lawyer, AP Singh, said the duo expressed reluctance to take the assistance of senior advocates Raju Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde because both had condemned them at the time of the incident.

The letter states the two senior counsels expressed their views on the matter during television interviews and also put up critical posts against them on Facebook. They have provided copies of articles authored by the advocates to Singh.

While Ramachandran denied the claims made by the two convicts, Hegde refused to comment.