Pune bus driver Santosh Mane awarded death penalty in road rage case

Express News Service April 08, 2013

Pune: A rogue driver, who hijacked a bus and mowed down nine people on Pune's streets with manic ruthlessness, was awarded death sentence by a sessions court, which termed his crime as "rarest of rare". Additional Sessions Judge V K Shevale handed down the extreme punishment to Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) driver Santosh Mane, 35, after rejecting the defence argument that he committed the crime in "a fit of insanity" and held that he was fully conscious of the consequences of his action. "The accused has committed the murder of nine persons by moving the bus dangerously with the intention and knowledge that the act was so imminently dangerous that it will cause death or bodily harm," the judge observed. Mane, a state transport bus driver, was held guilty of killing nine people and injuring 37 others in a road rage incident that took place on January 25, 2012. On April 3, Additional Sessions Judge V K Shewale had convicted Mane in the infamous road rampage incident. Before announcing the judgment, the judge heard the argument by government district pleader Ujjwala Pawar and defence lawyer Dhananjay Mane. Pawar will seek stringent capital punishment or life imprisonment for Mane while defence lawyers plead for minimum punishment citing him as the sole earning member of the family. Mane has been held guilty under relevant sections, comprising murder, attempt to murder, theft and assault, of the Indian penal Code and also under sections of the Prevention of Public Property Damages Act. On the morning of January 25, 2012, Mane hijacked an ST bus from Swargate depot and went on a rampage killing people besides damaging over 25 vehicles. The police and citizens managed to stop the bus near Neelayam theatre bridge after a hot pursuit lasted 45 minutes on 15 km stretch.
Source : http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/latest-news/Pune-bus-driver-Santosh-Mane-awarded-death-penalty-in-road-rage-case/1099275/

SC rejects Devinder Pal Bhullar's plea, upholds death in 1993 blast case

Ashok Bagriya CNN-IBN | 12-Apr 11:29 AM

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the mercy petition of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who had sought commutation of his death penalty to life sentence on the ground that there was inordinate delay by the President over his plea for clemency. The court said that delay cannot be a ground for commuting death sentence to a life term. Bhullar was sentenced to death in 2003 for carrying out a bomb blast outside the Delhi Youth Congress office in 1993 that left nine people dead.
The court observed that the petitioner could not make out a case for commuting his death penalty. "The Supreme Court should have considered our plea," Bhullar's wife said reacting to the verdict.
Bhullar had also sought mercy on grounds that he has been mentally unfit for the past 11 years. "If someone is mentally sick that person cannot be executed, we will have to go through the judgement," lawyer Majid Memon said.

Former chief of the Indian Youth Congress MS Bitta, who is now the chairman of the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, said the judgement was not expected. "I was not expecting this judgement, Sheila Dikshit declared Bhullar a mentally sick person. It's a crucial judgement," Bitta said. However, he added, "This is justice for those who died in that blast."

Bhullar had approached the Supreme Court in 2011, saying that his death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment, because there was an inordinate delay by the President over his plea for clemency. His mercy petition was pending for 8 years.Bhullar had filed his original mercy plea to commute the sentence to life imprisonment in 2003. It was rejected in 2011, a week after he approached the Supreme Court.

The apex court's verdict paves way for the execution of others on death row like the Rajiv Gandhi assassination convicts. The lawyer of Nalini, one of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, expressed disappointment on the court's order. "The order of the Supreme Court is disappointing, it has not taken in consideration the ground realities in the country," lawyer S Doraiswamy said.

Source: http://m.ibnlive.com/news/sc-rejects-devinder-bhullars-plea-upholds-death-in-1993-blast-case/384762-37-64.html [accessed on 13th April 2013]

Amnesty International Reports on Death Penalty Trends

By RICK GLADSTONE

Published: April 9, 2013, THE NEW YORK TIMES

At least four countries that had not used the death penalty in some time — India, Japan, Pakistan and Gambia — resumed doing so last year, the rights organization Amnesty International says in its annual compilation of capital punishment trends. 

Amnesty, the London-based group that has made abolition of the death penalty one of its signature causes, also says the number of executions in Iraq nearly doubled in 2012 compared with a year earlier, which it characterized as “an alarming escalation.”Nonetheless, its yearly review, released early Wednesday in London, said the overall shift away from death sentences and executions continued in 2012. 

“In many parts of the world, executions are becoming a thing of the past, ” Salil Shetty, secretary general of the organization, said in a statement. Amnesty said only 21 countries were recorded as having carried out executions in 2012, the same as in 2011, but down from 28 countries a decade earlier.It said at least 682 executions were known to have been carried out worldwide in 2012, two more than 2011, and at least 1,722 death sentences were imposed in 58 countries, compared with 1,923 imposed in 63 countries the year before. 

“Only one in 10 countries in the world carries out executions,” Mr. Shetty said. “Their leaders should ask themselves why they are still applying a cruel and inhumane punishment that the rest of the world is leaving behind.” Amnesty also pointed out that its compilation excluded what it said were the thousands of executions it believes were carried out in China, where the number of capital punishment cases is kept secret. The organization said it still believed China remained the world’s top executioner. 

Besides China, the top executors in 2012, Amnesty said, were Iran with 314, Iraq with 129, Saudi Arabia with 79 and the United States with 43. The report also noted that only nine American states executed prisoners in 2012, compared with 13 the year before, and that in April, Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish the death penalty. 

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/world/amnesty-international-reports-on-death-penalty-trends.html?_r=0 [accessed on 10th April 2013]

 

UP: 3 get death penalty, life term to 5 in fake encounter case

Lucknow, Apr 5 (PTI): A special CBI court here awarded death sentence to three policemen and life term to five others in a 31-year-old fake encounter case in Gonda district in which 13 persons, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police were killed.

Special CBI judge Rajendra Singh awarded death sentence to the then SHO, Kaudia R B Saroj, Head Constable Ram Nayak and Constable Ram Karan holding them responsible for hatching the conspiracy of murder. Those who have been awarded life sentence include the then PAC commandant Ramakant Dixit, sub-inspectors Naseem Ahmad, Mangala Singh, Parvez Hussain and Rajendra Prasad Singh.

The court had on March 29 passed the judgement convicting eight policemen and had fixed April 5 to pronounce the quantum of punishment. Dy SP and circle officer KP Singh and 12 other people were killed in the fake encounter in Madhopur village in March 1982. Police initially claimed that Singh was killed by criminals, but his wife Vibha Singh suspected foul play and moved the Supreme Court, which ordered a CBI inquiry. The CBI filed chargesheet against 19 policemen of which 10 died during the trial.

Later, one policeman Prem Singh was acquitted of the charges.

Source: http://tehelka.com/3-gets-death-penalty-life-term-to-5-in-fake-encounter-case/# (accessed on 5th April 2013)

Tired of backlog, President Pranab expedites mercy plea of death-row convicts

Dailybhaskar.com | Apr 04, 2013, 10:18AM IST

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee is using his powers under Article 72 of the Constitution to decide the fate of convicts awaiting death sentence.

According to reports, the President does not have any mercy petition pending before him and for this reason he is acting upon the mercy petitions putforth by death-row convicts unlike his predecessors.

On Wednesday, the president upheld fate of nine people convicted for heinous crimes while commuting death sentence to life term in two others. The decision was taken after the home ministry recommended rejection of mercy pleas in five cases and left two cases open for commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment with a rider that the life term should mean jail for the entire life of the convict and not just 20 years or 14 years in prison, claimed the report carried by Times of India.

The mercy files have been pending for years while moving to and fro between the President House and the home ministry, causing mental stress to both the convict and the victim's family. Since, he took over, Mukherjee has rejected mercy petitions in two high-profile cases - Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru were sent to gallows within less than three months. Mukherjee had rejected the mercy plea of Kasab on November 5 and of Afzal on February 3.

The report claimed that the President has disposed off eight death row convicts in five cases since he took over the office.

Source: http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/NAT-TOP-tired-of-backlog-president-pranab-expedites-mercy-plea-of-death-row-convicts-4225923-NOR.html (accessed on 5th April 2013)

74% of the mercy petitions were rejected by Presidents of India since 1981

74% of the mercy petitions were rejected by Presidents of India since 1981

ACHR condemns arbitrary rejection of mercy pleas of 9 death-row convicts

New Delhi: Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) in its press release today stated that President Pranab Mukherjee has reduced the President’s Office to a rubber stamp of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) while rejecting mercy pleas of the death-row convicts as per the advice of the MHA. The President has yesterday rejected mercy pleas in five cases while commuting death sentence in two cases as advised by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

As per the RTI information provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Asian Centre for Human Rights on 28 March 2013 (available at http://www.achrweb.org/press/2013/Mercypetitions.pdf), as on 28th March 2013, nine mercy petitions were pending before the President of India and these include death-row convicts Jafar Ali (Uttar Pradesh), Dharam Pal (Haryana) Praveen Kumar (Karnataka), Sonia and Sanjeev (Haryana), Sunder Singh (Uttarakhand), Shivu and Jadeswamy (Karnataka) and B A Umesh (Karnataka), Balwant Singh Rajoana (Chandigarh) and Manganlal (Madhya Pradesh).

“The case of life and death as per Article 72 of the Constitution must not be decided without objective criteria and therefore, the criteria for considering the mercy pleas must be developed to avoid arbitrariness in life and death matters. ” – stated Mr Suhas Chakma, Director of Asian Centre for Human Rights.

As per the RTI information provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Asian Centre for Human Rights on 28 March 2013, since the Supreme Court laid down the rarest of rare case doctrine in the Bachan Singh Vs State of Punjab case, the Presidents of India had considered 112 mercy pleas since 1981 to 4 April 2013, out of which 83 mercy petitions or 74% of the mercy petitions were rejected while mercy pleas of only 31 death row-convicts were commuted to life imprisonment.

ACHR called upon the Government of India to abolish death penalty.

Source: http://kashmirwatch.com/humanrights.php/2013/04/05/74-of-the-mercy-petitions-were-rejected-by-presidents-of-india-since-1981.html (accessed on 5th April 2013)

President Pranab clears all 7 pending mercy plea cases

Himanshi Dhawan & Vishwa Mohan, TNN Apr 4, 2013, 04.32AM IST

 

NEW DELHI: Speculation mounted on Wednesday about the fate of nine people convicted for heinous crimes amid indications that President Pranab Mukherjee had upheld execution in five cases while commuting death sentence to life term in two others. Sources said that the President used his powers under Article 72 of the Constitution to dispose of the mercy petitions of nine people convicted in seven heinous crimes. However, the details of individual cases could not be ascertained. The home ministry had recommended rejection of mercy pleas in five cases and left two cases open for commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment with a rider that the life term should mean jail for the entire life of the convict and not just 20 years or 14 years in prison. Sources said that the President does not have any mercy petition pending before him now.

Though the case-wise recommendation for convicts was not known as both the home ministry and President House did not reply to repeated questions, the seven cases on the President's desk related to multiple murders, including one in which a convict who was out on bail on rape charge had killed five members of the victim's family. Among the cases that are reported to have been disposed of include the longest pending case of Gurmeet Singh of Uttar Pradesh who was convicted for killing 13 members of a family on August 17, 1986. The others cases are of Suresh and Ramji, also from UP, who were convicted for killing five members of their brother's family and Dharampal from Haryana who had murdered five members of the family of a girl he had raped in 1993. He had murdered the family while on bail in the rape case.

The other cases are of Sonia, daughter of a former Haryana MLA, and her husband Sanjeev, who drugged and killed eight of her family members in Hisar in 2001, including her parents. Sunder Singh from Uttarakhand was convicted for rape and murder on June 30, 1989; Jafar Ali from Uttar Pradesh was convicted for killing wife and five daughter in 2002 and Praveen Kumar of Karnataka was convicted for killing four members of a family on February 23, 1994. The mercy files, which have been pending for years while moving to and fro between the President House and the home ministry, has seen an unprecedented movement of late, resulting in two quick executions (Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru) within less than three months.

Mukherjee had rejected the mercy plea of Kasab on November 5 and of Afzal on February 3. So far, the President has disposed off eight death row convicts in five cases. Mukherjee has also rejected the mercy petitions of Saibanna Ningappa Natikar (Karnataka: convicted for killing wife and daughter) and mercy petitions of slain brigand Veerappan's associates Gnanaprakash, Simon, 'Meesai' Madaian and Pilavendran, who were sentenced to death for killing 22 police personnel in 1993. However, the mercy petition of Atbir (Delhi), who was convicted for murder of his step-mother, step-sister and step-brother over property, was commuted to life imprisonment by the President.

Very few of the death penalty cases, however, reach the President House every year. Even during the tenure of the then President Pratibha Patil, death penalties of 35 convicts were commuted to life imprisonment between 2007 and 2012. Patil had rejected mercy pleas in three cases, comprising five convicts.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-04/india/38277382_1_mercy-petition-saibanna-ningappa-natikar-atbir accessed 5th April 2013