A Delhi court on Saturday dismissed a plea filed by one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder, seeking relief on grounds of “mental illness”.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana rejected Vinay Kumar Sharma's plea in which he had sought better treatment for his alleged mental illness, schizophrenia and head and arm injuries.
"It is evident that the convict is not only being provided regular medical care, but regular supportive therapy sessions are also being conducted for him by specialists," the court observed.
Earlier, the Tihar jail authorities termed Sharma's claim as a "bundle of distorted facts" and told the court that the CCTV footage established that the convict had inflicted "superficial" injuries on himself and was not suffering from any psychological disorder.
"These (convict's claims) are all a bundle of distorted facts. Doctor attended to him and found there was an injury. They gave him medicine. All injuries are self-inflicted and superficial in nature," the public prosecutor representing jail authorities said.
The psychologist, who appeared on behalf of the jail, said regular medical checkups of all four convicts were done on a daily basis and they are all fine.
According to prison officials, Sharma injured himself by banging his head on his prison cell's wall in Tihar Jail. The incident happened in jail number 3 on Sunday afternoon, they said, adding that he got some minor injuries and was treated at the prison premises.
The court had on February 17 issued fresh warrants against Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay (26) and Akshay Kumar (31) for their execution on March 3 at 6 am. This is the third time that death warrants have been issued against them.
With inputs from PTI
