New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday appointed two senior lawyers to appear for December 16, Nirbhaya gang-rape rapists, considering that the current lawyers are unable to argue well.

Senior advocates Raju Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde have been appointed by a bench headed by Justice Dipak Mishra to assist the court in the case. While Ramachandran would assist the court in appeals of the convicts – Mukesh and Pawan, Hegde would appear for convicts Vinay and Akshay in the case.

“We must express our concern in the matter. We feel the gravity in the whole issue. Sometimes there are many perceptions and we don’t want to miss anything. We would like to be assisted by the amicus curiae in the matter.

We appoint two senior counsels Raju Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde as amicus in the case,” the bench, also comprising Justice V Gopala Gowda and Kurian Joseph, said.

The matter is listed for next hearing on July 18. On April 4, the court had commenced arguments on the plea of Mukesh and Pawan.

The accused had approached the apex court against the Delhi High Court’s March 13, 2014 verdict, which had termed that their offence fell in the rarest of rare category and upheld the death sentence awarded to them by the trial court.

It may be recalled that on the night of December 16, 2012, a 23-year-old paramedic girl was brutally assaulted and gangraped by six people in a moving bus in South Delhi. The victim was thrown out of the bus with her male friend. After battling for life for more than a week the victim died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.

The accused Ram Singh, Mukesh, Pawan, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh and a juvenile were arrested in connection with the case.

The main accused, Ram Singh, had been found dead in a cell in Tihar Jail in March 2013 and proceedings against him were abated.

On August 31, 2013, another accused, a juvenile was convicted and sentenced to three years in a reformation home. He was freed from observation home in December last year.