Justice R Banumathi faints during SC Nirbhaya hearing, taken for treatment

Justice R Banumathi soon regained consciousness and was taken to the chamber by other judges and Supreme Court staff. The order will now be passed in-chamber.

HIGHLIGHTS

• SC to pass order in-chamber after Justice Banumathi faints
• Judge regains consciousness, taken for treatment
• Case was being heard by a 3-judge bench

Supreme Court Justice R Banumathi fainted today while hearing the central government's plea asking that the four men convicted for gangraping Nirbhaya in 2012 be hanged separately.

Justice Banumathi soon regained consciousness and was taken to the chamber by other judges and Supreme Court staff. She was taken on a wheelchair for medical treatment.

The order will be passed in-chamber, Justice AS Bopanna said.

The matter was being heard by a three-judge bench that also included Justice Ashok Bhushan.

In December 2012, six men gangraped a 23-year-old Delhi paramedic student -- now known as Nirbhaya, or "fearless" -- in a display of brutality so unhinged that Indians, left shaking with fury, poured into the streets to demand justice.

The victim later died of her injuries.

Four of the rapists remain in prison; one of them killed himself in jail and another, a juvenile, was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.

Inputs from PTI