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

By Express News Service - KOCHI

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

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

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