Chhawla rape and murder: Acquitted person booked for new murder; Supreme Court 3-Judge Bench to hear review plea

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to set up a three-judge bench to hear a review application filed by the Delhi government against the acquittal of three death row convicts in the 2012 Chhawla gang-rape and murder case. [State of NCT of Delhi, Ministry of Home Affairs vs Rahul and ors].The matter was mentioned this morning by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta before a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.."An 18 year old was raped, mutilated, killed. Private parts were tortured with screwdriver. Now, one of the accused has slit the throat of an auto driver. We are requesting for an open court hearing. If the earlier bench is of CJI it should be headed by the CJI", Mehta submitted. The Court in turn assured that the a three-judge bench would hear the matter. "I will constitute a bench of myself, Justices Ravindra Bhat and Bela Trivedi", Chief Justice Chandrachud said."We will consider the open court hearing request," Justice Bela M Trivedi added. .The review application highlighted that one of the accused, who was earlier on death row, was arrested last month in connection with the murder of an auto driver. The murder was allegedly committed after he was released following his acquittal by the top court.The review application sought to place additional documents on record in this regard..The Supreme Court had acquitted three persons in the Chhawla rape and murder case last November after observing that courts cannot punish accused persons on the basis of moral conviction.Subsequently, Delhi Lieutenant-Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena had approved the filing of a review petition against this judgment. In December 2022, a two Judge bench of the Supreme Court refused to urgently list the plea seeking a review of the judgment acquitting the three..The latest plea to urgently list the matter was filed in the wake of a new criminal case being filed against Vinod (one of the three persons acquitted earlier) for the murder of an auto-driver. As per the FIR, the auto-driver was stabbed and declared 'brought dead' by the time he was taken to the hospital. Vinod was arrested in connection with the case three days later. The review application stated that the fact that he has committed a murder after his release indicated that the accused is a hardened criminal who has abused the benevolence of the court. The Court has, therefore, been urged not to show any leniency to the accused, who has been termed a criminal minded person and a threat to society as whole. .The Chhawla gang-rape and murder case concerned the death of a 19-year-old girl, who was kidnapped and allegedly forced into a red-coloured Tata Indica at Chhawla. Her dead body was later found in the fields of Rodai village. The police subsequently apprehended the three accused after one of them was found looking perplexed and allegedly driving the car in question.A trial court had convicted them for the offences of gang-rape, murder and causing disappearance of evidence in 2014. They were given the death penalty. The Delhi High Court dismissed the appeals of the three accused, leading to an appeal before the top court, following which they were acquitted last year.