Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Batla House convict gets life term

Mohammad Ali

Shahzad Ahmad fined Rs. 95,000, and Rs. 40,000 from the sum will be given to the family of the inspector killed in the encounter

Shahzad Ahmad, convicted for his role in the 2008 Batla House encounter, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court here on Wednesday.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs. 95,000 on him, and Rs. 40,000 from it will be given to the family of Special Cell Inspector M.C. Sharma, who was killed in the encounter. S. Qamar, one of the lawyers of Shahzad, said he would appeal against the verdict in higher courts.
On Thursday, the Court of Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri convicted Shahzad, 25, for firing at police officers, causing the death of Sharma.
The Delhi Police had sought the death penalty for Shahzad, arguing that his crime constituted the rarest of rare cases and there was “no scope for [his] rehabilitation and reform.” The court, however, rejected the prosecution’s plea. “Ruminating on the facts of the case and the circumstances of the convict, I find mitigating circumstances more than aggravating ones, and hence the case … is not a ‘rarest of the rare case,’ which warrants the death penalty upon the convict,” the judge said.
One of the aggravating circumstances which the court cited includes attempts by Shahzad to obstruct police officers from doing their job by attacking them and killing Sharma in the process. Rejecting the police argument that Shahzad had a history of “heinous crime,” the judge expressed the hope that there “are chances of his being reformed and return to the mainstream of society.”
“Admittedly, this convict has not been found guilty till now, of any offence he has been charged with. An accused is presumed innocent till he is proven guilty is an oft-cited tenet of law. God willing, the convict would have learnt values of civilised society,” the judge added.
One of the several mitigating circumstances was that “the convict is a young boy, aged 24-25 years, stated to be a student.” Another factor was that the incident at Flat No. 108, L-18, Batla House, was “not premeditated and occurred in the spur of the moment.”
The encounter took place on September 19, 2008 between officers of the Special Cell of the Delhi Police and suspected terrorists, resulting in the death of Sharma and two alleged terrorists. Shahzad was said to have fired at the police party while fleeing. 

Source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Shahzad-Ahmed-gets-life-term-in-Batla-House-encounter-case/Article1-1100637.aspx

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Larger bench of SC to hear pleas of death row convicts

Press Trust of India | Posted on Jul 26, 2013 at 06:26pm IST
New Delhi: A larger bench of the Supreme Court will hear from October 22 a batch of petitions seeking commutation of their death sentence into life imprisonment on account of delay in carrying out the execution following the dismissal of their mercy petitions by the President.
"Death sentence matters will be taken up immediately after the Dussehra holidays from October 22," a bench, comprising Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said.
Before taking over as the CJI, Justice Sathasivam had said that there was a need for "authoritative pronouncements" by a larger bench or a Constitution Bench on issues like mercy pleas to avoid conflicting views by smaller benches.

The hearing by a larger bench assumes significance as on April 12, a two-judge bench had held that long delay in disposing off mercy pleas by the President or the Governor of persons convicted under anti-terror laws or similar statutes cannot be a ground for commutation of death sentence. The ruling was pronounced while rejecting the plea of Khalistani terrorist and death row convict Devinderpal Singh Bhullar.
When the April 12 judgement was delivered, there were over 20 convicts facing execution. Later on, an apex court bench had granted relief to a condemned prisoner M N Das who had sought conversion of his death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of delay in deciding his mercy plea.
On February 18 this year, a bench headed by Justice Sathasivam, which in an urgent hearing had stayed the execution of death sentence of sandalwood smuggler Veerapan's associates in a Karnataka jail, had said it would wait for the Bhullar's case judgement before dealing with other identical petitions.
It had stayed the execution of death sentence of Veerappan's elder brother Gnanaprakash and his aides Simon, Meesekar Madaiah and Bilavendran.
The outcome of the hearing before a larger bench will also have its bearing on three persons Murgan, Santhan and Perarivalan who are awaiting execution after conviction under TADA in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. A bench headed by Justice Sathasivam had on April 6 stayed the execution of eight more death row prisoners, convicted in different murder cases, whose clemency pleas were rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee.
The eight convicts facing death row in different cases are Suresh, Ramji, Gurmeet Singh, Praveen Kumar, Sonia and her
husband Sanjeev, Sundar Singh and Jafar Ali. The apex court had passed the orders on the plea of either the convicts or civil rights group and public spirited persons who had filed the petitions on behalf of the death row persons.
In its petition, Peoples Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR) had challenged the rejection of the mercy pleas of the eight convicts contending there has been delay in carrying out their execution even after it was confirmed by the apex court.
While Suresh, Ramji, Gurmeet Singh and Jafar Ali are lodged in prisons in Uttar Pradesh, former Haryana MLA Ralu
Ram Punia's daughter Sonia and her husband Sanjeev are jailed in Haryana. Praveen is in a Karnataka jail and Sundar Singh is
an inmate in a prison in Uttaranchal. Sonia and Sanjeev were awarded death penalty for killing eight members of her family, including her parents and three children of her brother, in 2001.
Gurmeet Singh was convicted for killing 13 of his family members in 1986. Jafar Ali murdered his wife and five daughters. Suresh and Ramji killed five of their relatives. 

Source : http://ibnlive.in.com/news/larger-bench-of-sc-to-hear-pleas-of-death-row-convicts/409628-3.html

 

Wife's murder: High Court commutes death penalty to life term

24th July 2013 12:56 PM
The High Court on Tuesday set aside the death penalty awarded to Saji alias Unni of Perumbavoor, for the murder of his wife in 2010, and commuted it to life imprisonment. A division bench comprising Justice S Siri Jagan and Justice K Ramakrishnan passed an order while quashing the order of Ernakulam District and Sessions Court. The Bench awarded life term and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the accused. The prosecution case was that  the petitioner had also attempted to murder his mother-in-law. The court held that “life imprisonment is a rule and death penalty is an exception”.
It also said that murder was a grave offence. But, merely because it was committed, death penalty cannot be awarded. The case will not come under the rarest of the rare category so capital punishment is not needed, said the Bench. The court directed that Rs 20,000 from the fine amount should be given to the mother of the victim and Rs 80,000 to the child.

Source : http://newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/Wifes-murder-High-Court-commutes-death-penalty-to-life-term/2013/07/24/article1699038.ece

Justice delivered in 8 days; court awards death sentence to man for rape, murder

Press Trust of India | Updated Jul 23, 2013 at 03:48pm IST
 In a speedy trial, a 26-year-old man was sentenced to death by a local court for raping and killing a six-year-old girl in Datia in April this year.
District and Sessions Judge Rajiv Sharma, while awarding the death penalty on Monday, observed that people like Kamlesh Kushwaha (the accused) are "cancerous" to the society and hence its necessary to eliminate them in the same manner just as doctors remove cancer tumours surgically for saving people's lives.
The hearing in the case began on July 15 and it was completed in only eight days, according to public prosecutor Rajendra Tiwari. On April 18, Kushwaha, a resident of Maheba village raped and murdered the girl belonging to Dongarpur village. 
Kamlesh, who was living in Dongarpur with a relative took the girl to a farm on some pretext and committed the crime. Postmortem reports had confirmed rape and also 21 injuries were found on the girl's body following which the accused was arrested.

Source : http://ibnlive.in.com/news/justice-delivered-in-8-days-court-awards-death-sentence-to-man-for-rape-murder/408822-3-236.html

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

SHIVANI CASE: HC UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE TO RAJESH

Wednesday, 17 July 2013 PNS Indore Bhopal 

The MP High Court on Tuesday upheld the order of a local court which awarded death sentence to Rajesh Singh Sengar, uncle of seven-year-old Baby Shivani who was sexually abused and killed her later by the accused last year.

Shivani was sexually abused and murdered in September last year. Her father Prem Singh Sengar had given her to his cousin Rajesh in the hope that she would have a better future.A division bench comprising Justice Shantanu Kemkar and Justice MC Garg of the MP High Court passed the judgement. A local fast track court on March 12 this year had awarded capital punishment to Rajesh Singh Sengar, 41, for rape, unnatural sex and murder of seven-year-old niece Shivani, besides imposing a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. The court also awarded life imprisonment to his wife Baby Bai along with a fine of Rs 4,000.

The fast track court of seventh additional sessions judge Savita Dubey delivered the judgement in the case after just eight hearings during which a total of 20 witnesses were produced, including 12 neighbours of the victim. The accused Sengar had challenged the verdict of lower fast track court in the High Court.

Taking cognizance of his petition, the High Court upheld the verdict of the fast track court stating that the accused did not deserve a lesser punishment than what had been awarded to him by the fast track court. Meanwhile, the accused was contemplating to move the higher court. The accused Rajesh Singh Sengar, who is uncle of Shivani, subjected the girl to inhuman and unnatural sexual torture for a long time. The incident had elicited sharp protest from the city residents who took to streets in protest against the brutal incident. Following a mass protest of the city people, the police had referred Shivani murder case to a fast track court for early justice to the family of the deceased.              

Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhopal/shivani-case-hc-upholds-death-sentence-to-rajesh.html

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

HC acquits 7 men awarded death penalty in honour killing case

PTI | Jul 13, 2013, 09.53PM IST

ALLAHABAD: Due to lack of evidence, the Allahabad high court has let off seven persons, who were awarded death sentence by a lower court in connection with an alleged honour killing case of Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh.

A division bench comprising Justice Amar Saran and Justice Pankaj Naqvi on Friday ordered "the release of Natthu, Rakesh, Mahavir, Viresh, Jai Prakash, Pappu and Gulab Singh" holding that they "stand acquitted of charges they had been found guilty of".

The appellants had challenged July 30, 2012 order of additional sessions judge, Badaun.

They were awarded death sentence for allegedly burning alive Deen Dayal and Anita in a village under Gunnaur police station of the district on the intervening night of May 22-23, 2006.

Anita was the daughter of one of the appellants, Natthu.

The girl's affair with Deen Dayal was said to have been bitterly opposed by her family.

However, during the trial, Natthu denied his involvement in the incident and claimed that the remaining six accused had "resorted to this abhorrent crime to grab his property".

The high court struck down the conviction of all the seven accused observing that the trial court had convicted them "on the strength of the statement" given by Natthu, which was "not a substantive piece of evidence which could have nailed the other set of accused persons".

"The trial court was swayed by the fact Natthu in his statement ... had admitted his presence at the scene of occurrence," the court noted, adding "this approach was absolutely de hors the law.

The prosecution had failed to prove the case, in the mode and manner as alleged by them beyond a reasonable doubt.

Source : http://m.timesofindia.com/city/lucknow/HC-acquits-7-men-awarded-death-penalty-in-honour-killing-case/articleshow/21060034.cms

Monday, July 8, 2013

Govt questions SC's power to reopen death penalty cases

Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN Jul 7, 2013, 06.08AM IST
NEW DELHI: The Centre is all set to legally lock horns with the Supreme Court by questioning the court's powers to call for judicial scrutiny the President's exercise of constitutional power to grant pardon or commute sentences of condemned prisoners.
"The decision of the President under Article 72 of the Constitution, either accepting or rejecting a petition, is a sovereign act. This sovereign act is performed after the courts have given their verdict and this sovereign act cannot be subjected to review by the Courts," the Centre said.
"Entertaining of an appeal after the President has rejected the mercy petition also amounts to reopening the case. Once the mercy petition has been decided by the highest constitutional authority, the President of India, the courts should not allow reopening of the case, as the case has achieved its finality (in judiciary). Otherwise, reopening of the cases would be unending and it may never attain finality," it said.
The Union government said this in its petition in the Supreme Court seeking review of the May 1st judgment, in which the apex court commuted the death sentence awarded to double murder convict M N Das to life sentence on the ground that there was inordinate and inexplicable delay on President's part to reject his mercy plea.
While saying that it had fully explained the decade-long movement of Das' mercy plea file both in the ministry of home affairs and the President's Secretariat, the Centre, for the first time, questioned the apex court's jurisdiction to reopen cases of death penalty after rejection of mercy pleas by President.
Smarting under the repeated judicial scrutiny of President's decisions to reject mercy pleas on ground of delay, the Centre's review petition also aimed to curb the increasing trend among condemned prisoners to move HCs and the apex court after rejection of their mercy pleas by Governor or President.
A little over two months ago, the SC had rejected Delhi Bomb blast convict Devenderpal Singh Bhullar's plea for commutation of death penalty to life sentence. However, it accepted Das' plea on the ground that there was an 11-year delay in deciding his mercy plea by President and also that it was not properly appreciated.
The Centre also did not forget to rub in the delay on judiciary's part in deciding the murder cases, from trial stages and appeals through the HC up to the SC. Why it is that adverse view was taken of the delay in executive side in deciding the mercy plea and not that of the delay in deciding murder cases and appeals in judiciary? it asked.
"No distinction can be drawn between the delay during the trial and the delay in considering the mercy petition by President. It cannot be said that delay during the trial is justified and the delay by President in consideration of the mercy petition is not justified," the Centre said.
It said as soon as the SC rejects an appeal against death sentence, the condemned prisoner goes into mental agony recognizing that he had inched closer to the hangman's noose. But since the execution is stayed during the pendency of mercy pleas, delay in deciding such mercy petitions actually keeps alive the ray of hope for life in the condemned prisoner. So, delay in deciding mercy pleas does not cause any additional mental agony for the condemned prisoner, the Centre reasoned.
Source : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-07/india/40420757_1_mercy-plea-mercy-petition-m-n-das
 

IPC's Section 364A: Too harsh a provision?

TNN Jul 5, 2013, 04.30AM IST
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court had laid down the "rarest of rare" criteria for courts to award death penalty only in select heinous and gruesome murder cases.
In this background, can Parliament enact a law providing for mandatory award of death penalty for those found guilty of murdering a person after kidnapping him to demand ransom? Would this not amount to pushing every offence of kidnap for ransom involving murder of the victim into 'rarest of rare' category without a judicial determination to that effect?
This question was framed by Justices T S Thakur and S J Mukhopadhaya while referring to a larger bench a petition challenging the constitutional validity of Section 364A of Indian Penal Code, which imposes mandatory death penalty in kidnap for ransom involving murder of the kidnapped.
The petition was filed by one Vikram Singh, who was convicted under Sections 302 (murder) and 364A of the IPC and awarded death penalty on both counts. The apex court had upheld his conviction and sentence.
But in his petition before the Supreme Court, his counsel D K Garg argued that if the court came to the conclusion that punishment provided under Section 364A of IPC was unconstitutional, then a lenient view could be taken on the death penalty awarded to his client under Section 302.
He argued that Section 364A made even a first time offender liable to be punished with death, which was too harsh to be considered just and appropriate.
Appearing for the Union government, additional solicitor general Sidharth Luthra argued, "It is within the legislative competence of Parliament to provide remedies and prescribe punishment for different offences depending upon the nature and gravity of such offences and the societal expectation for weeding out ills that afflict or jeopardize the lives of citizens and the security and safety of vulnerable sections of the society, especially children who are prone to kidnapping for ransom and being brutally done to death if their parents are unable to pay the ransom amount.
"The provisions of Section 364A are not only intended to deal with cases of kidnapping for ransom involving murder of victim but also cases in which terrorists and other extremist organizations resort to kidnapping for ransom or to such other acts only to coerce the government to do or not to do something."
The court agreed with Luthra that the petitioner had not questioned the competence of Parliament in enacting the law and said the petitioner challenged it only on the ground of harshness of the prescribed punishment.
The bench said, "The plea may indeed be in complete desperation but one can well understand such desperation among those who are waiting at the gallows for the hangman to put the noose around their neck. Dismissal of this appeal is bound to take them a step closer to the end.
"That apart, the questions (asked by the petitioner) may require an authoritative answer, by a bench of three judges, having regard to the fact that the death sentence awarded to the petitioner has been affirmed by a bench of two judges. The peculiar situation in which the case arises and the grounds on which the provisions of Section 364A are assailed persuade us to the view that this case ought to go before a larger bench of three judges for hearing and disposal."

Source : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-05/india/40391126_1_death-penalty-ransom-death-sentence
 

Nirbhaya effect: Govt favours death term for three

Himanshi Dhawan, TNN Jul 4, 2013, 05.01AM IST
NEW DELHI: It is the Nirbhaya effect on UPA-2. The government has recommended death penalty for three convicts found guilty of women-related crimes. While Madhya Pradesh resident Maganlal was found guilty of murdering his five daughters, Karnataka'sShivu and Jadeswamy were convicted of rape and murder. Both cases have been sent to the President for his assent by the home ministry. 
Shivu and Jadeswamy brutally raped and murdered an 18-year-old girl on October 15, 2001. The high court rejected the appeal and confirmed death penalty in November 2005. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2007. Home ministry in April 2013 recommended rejection of the mercy petition following which two new mercy petitions were filed on Shivu's behalf. The petitions were filed by the condemned prisoner's mother Chellamma and by people and members of the Badrayyanahalli Kuratti Hosur gram panchayat. Subsequently, the case was sent to the President in June.
Madhya Pradesh's Maganlal murdered his five daughters on June 11, 2010 following which he was handed death sentence by the district court which was upheld by both the high court and the SC. The MP governor rejected the mercy petition in 2012 which was confirmed by the home ministry.
Both cases are now before President Pranab Mukherjee who is empowered by the Constitution to grant presidential pardon. Presidential pardon arises from Article 72 of the Constitution that empowers the President to pardon, grant reprieve or suspend, remit, commute sentence of person convicted of any offence. The President is guided by the home minister and the council of ministers.
The President has so far rejected nine mercy petitions sentencing 14 convicts including one woman to death since he took charge of Rashtrapati Bhavan in July 2012.
Among the first mercy petitions to be disposed of included 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab's. He was executed in November 2012 which was the first hanging after 2004 and marked a sharp departure in India's policy towards death penalty.
Mukherjee has since rejected the mercy petitions of Saibanna Ningappa Natikar on January 4, 2013 and Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on February 3. He commuted the death sentence for Atbir who was found guilty of murdering three relatives over a property dispute on November 15, 2012.
Between February and March 2013, Mukherjee rejected the mercy petitions of Veerappan aides Simon, Gnanaprakash, Madaiah and Bilavandran who killed 22 people by blasting a land mine, mass murderers including Suresh and Ramji, Gurmeet Singh and Jafar Ali. He also rejected the mercy plea of rapist-murderer Dharampal and that of Sonia and Sanjeev. Sonia, daughter of a former Haryana MLA, and her husband Sanjeev drugged and killed eight of her family in Hisar in 2001 including her parents. These cases have now been appealed in the Supreme Court by human rights activists. 
Source : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-04/india/40370259_1_atbir-saibanna-ningappa-natikar-mercy-petition
 

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Man gets death sentence for double murder

By Express News Service - ANANTAPUR 29th June 2013 10:44 AM
The SC/ST Fast Track court here on Friday awarded death sentence to one Meendlapalli Venkatesh in connection with twin murders on September 26, 2012. The 42-year-old Venkatesh had a scuffle with his neighbouring farmer over irrigation water in Kuruvalli village of Bommnahal mandal of Rayadurgam constituency on that day. After an argument with Mulla Jafar Saab and Maheswar Reddy, Venkatesh in a fit of rage attacked them with an axe and hacked the duo to death.
A farmer in the nearby fields, Ramalakshmi, who was a witness to the murders, tried to run away but Venkatesh chased her and attacked her also with the axe. After inflicting severe injuries on the woman, Venkatesh fled from the spot assuming that the only eyewitness in the murders was also eliminated. However, Ramalakshmi, who suffered injuries regained consciousness after some time and was admitted to a hospital. Later, she narrated the entire episode to the police.
Bommanahaul police registered a case which came to SC,ST Fast Track court in Anantapur for trial. After completing the trail in nine months, judge Nagarjuna gave the verdict on Friday awarding capital punishment to the accused for twin murders. The court also pronounced 10 years imprisonment to the accused for attacking the woman farmer.
Source : http://newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/Man-gets-death-sentence-for-double-murder/2013/06/29/article1658375.ece

MP high court upholds death sentence of rapist, killer

TNN Jun 27, 2013, 02.42PM IST
JABALPUR: MP high court has upheld the death sentence of Nandkishore Valmiki who is charged with a rape of eight-year-old girl from Bhopal. On February 3 the girl who had gone to a fair with his brother was lured by the accused raped and brutally murdered.
The father of the child had reported her missing at the TT Nagar police station. Her decomposed body was recovered from the bush after the police was tipped off that a dog was seen running around with a human limb. Last seen with the girl, Valmiki later confessed his crime during the interrogation and was charge sheeted.
The district and sessions court in Bhopal had sentenced Valmiki to death on March 14, 2013 and the mater had come before the high court in appeal. Dismissing the appeal the division bench of Justice Ajit Singh and Justice Alok Aradhe held that such heinous crimes could be curbed only by taking strongest of measures against the guilty.
Source : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-06-27/bhopal/40232729_1_death-sentence-upholds-mp-high-court