Showing posts with label Mahendra Das. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mahendra Das. Show all posts
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Assam man on death row fasts to end capital punishment
Samudra Gupta Kashyap : Guwahati, Fri Aug 31 2012, 01:43 hrs
Waiting for a hangman for over 17 years now since the Sessions Judge of Kamrup awarded him a death penalty — and one that was subsequently upheld by the Gauhati High Court and the Supreme Court — Mahendra Nath Das has launched a “Gandhian” fast-unto-death in the Jorhat Central Jail, demanding abolition of capital punishment.
“Capital punishment, like so many other things, is a legacy left behind by the British who treated us like slaves. I have been waiting in the prison with a death penalty for 17 years now. At this moment I pray to you to not only do away with my death sentence but also release me from prison as I have already served imprisonment more than a life sentence,” Das, who was shifted to the Jorhat Medical College Hospital after he took ill on the third day of his fast-unto-death on Wednesday, said in a letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India.
Das was sentenced to death by the Sessions Judge, Kamrup (Guwahati) on August 18, 1997 in connection with the murder of one Harakanta Das in Guwahati on April 24, 1996. The death sentence was confirmed by the HC on February 3, 1998. The SC upheld the death sentence on May 14, 1999.
A mercy petition that Das had filed before the President in 1999, was rejected in 2011.
Source: The Indian Express
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/assam-man-on-death-row-fasts-to-end-capital-punishment/995713/ [accessed on 1st September 2012]
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
HC upholds death sentence for Mahendra
TNN | Jan 31, 2012, 07.39AM IST
GUWAHATI: The Gauhati high court on Monday upheld its previous order of a death sentence for murder convict Mahendra Das, after keeping the verdict reserved for a week, and dismissed his plea to convert the death sentence to life imprisonment.
However, Mahendra is going to move the Supreme Court once again in the case.
Last Monday, the high court concluded the hearing in the case and reserved the verdict. Mahendra in his writ petition prayed to the high court to convert his death sentence into lifetime imprisonment since he has already spent about 14 years in jail awaiting the disposal of his petition seeking presidential clemency.
On April 24, 1996, Mahendra Das beheaded Harakanta Das in Fancy Bazar area of the city and surrendered to the police with the victim's head. He was arrested and has been in jail since 1997. The sessions court later ordered his execution in 1998.
The Gauhati high court in 1998 and the Supreme Court in 1999 upheld capital punishment in the case. In 1999, Mahendra's family moved a mercy petition to the then President K R Narayanan. After almost 12 years, the plea was finally turned down in May 2011 by present President Pratibha Patil, setting the stage for Mahendra's hanging.
"The division bench of chief justice A K Goel and justice C R Sarma today dismissed the writ petition filed by Mahendra Das where he prayed to convert his death sentence into lifetime imprisonment on the grounds of delay in disposal of his mercy petition by the President. We argued that the delay does not entail quashing the sentence and converting it into life imprisonment," said Bhaskar Dev Konwar, the counsel of Amal Das, son of Harakanta Das.
The assistant solicitor general of India (Gauhati high court), Randeep Sarma, added, "The delay in disposal of the mercy petition by the President can't be considered a cause for commuting the judgment. It is the President's discretionary power. We have submitted all the documents relating to the case before the court in this time period."
Happy with the judgment of the high court, Amal Das said, "It is sad that Mahendra's aged mother has to witness her son's death, but we have gone through the same. I have seen my father's gruesome death at Mahendra's hands."
On September 8, 2011, a division bench of the high court had rejected a petition filed by the convict's mother, Kusumbala Das, for commuting her son's death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground that Mahendra's mother had no locus standi to file it on behalf of her son.
On the other hand, unhappy with the verdict, Arup Borbora, the counsel of Mahendra Das, said they would move the Supreme Court in the case.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/HC-upholds-death-sentence-for-Mahendra/articleshow/11694957.cms
accessed on 31st January 2012
GUWAHATI: The Gauhati high court on Monday upheld its previous order of a death sentence for murder convict Mahendra Das, after keeping the verdict reserved for a week, and dismissed his plea to convert the death sentence to life imprisonment.
However, Mahendra is going to move the Supreme Court once again in the case.
Last Monday, the high court concluded the hearing in the case and reserved the verdict. Mahendra in his writ petition prayed to the high court to convert his death sentence into lifetime imprisonment since he has already spent about 14 years in jail awaiting the disposal of his petition seeking presidential clemency.
On April 24, 1996, Mahendra Das beheaded Harakanta Das in Fancy Bazar area of the city and surrendered to the police with the victim's head. He was arrested and has been in jail since 1997. The sessions court later ordered his execution in 1998.
The Gauhati high court in 1998 and the Supreme Court in 1999 upheld capital punishment in the case. In 1999, Mahendra's family moved a mercy petition to the then President K R Narayanan. After almost 12 years, the plea was finally turned down in May 2011 by present President Pratibha Patil, setting the stage for Mahendra's hanging.
"The division bench of chief justice A K Goel and justice C R Sarma today dismissed the writ petition filed by Mahendra Das where he prayed to convert his death sentence into lifetime imprisonment on the grounds of delay in disposal of his mercy petition by the President. We argued that the delay does not entail quashing the sentence and converting it into life imprisonment," said Bhaskar Dev Konwar, the counsel of Amal Das, son of Harakanta Das.
The assistant solicitor general of India (Gauhati high court), Randeep Sarma, added, "The delay in disposal of the mercy petition by the President can't be considered a cause for commuting the judgment. It is the President's discretionary power. We have submitted all the documents relating to the case before the court in this time period."
Happy with the judgment of the high court, Amal Das said, "It is sad that Mahendra's aged mother has to witness her son's death, but we have gone through the same. I have seen my father's gruesome death at Mahendra's hands."
On September 8, 2011, a division bench of the high court had rejected a petition filed by the convict's mother, Kusumbala Das, for commuting her son's death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground that Mahendra's mother had no locus standi to file it on behalf of her son.
On the other hand, unhappy with the verdict, Arup Borbora, the counsel of Mahendra Das, said they would move the Supreme Court in the case.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/HC-upholds-death-sentence-for-Mahendra/articleshow/11694957.cms
accessed on 31st January 2012
Sunday, June 19, 2011
They haven’t found a hangman yet, have they?
Vijay (Hiremath) calls me up and says, “Did you read that Mahendra Das and Prof. Bhullar’s mercy petitions have been rejected by the President’s office?” I was on one of my fieldwork trips and was shocked to hear this news! He put me in touch with Yug Chaudhry who wanted to work on this case. We contacted the prison and then the relatives of Mahendra Das. Yug worked on the draft and contacted several others. He asked me a day before we left for Guahati, “Reena will you come also for this hearing?” I thought I must go because I knew the family by then and I had interviewed Mahendra Das just a few weeks before his petition was rejected by our the $President. We reached Guahati High Court next day i.e. 7th June 2011 at 12:45 pm and the petition was already filed by Adv. Arup Borbora. We met all the lawyers and also the relatives. Das’s mother – Kusum Bala Das cried silently most of the time. His sister told me, “If anything happens to our brother, we all will kill ourselves.”
In the meantime,Adv. Arup Borbora asked for a special bench of two judges to be created and it was done as this was a special matter. The court proceedings began at 3:45 where a special bench of judges (Justice BP Katakey and Justice BK Sharma) was constituted to hear this matter as the Chief Justice was out of town. The counsel on behalf of the mother were Senior Advocates A.K. Bhattacharya, Arup Borbora and Yug Chaudhry. We were in Court Room No. 4 where the relatives asked me sit beside them. I sat next to them of course - more than for them, it was for my own contentment. The counsel Adv. Bhattacharya spoke and his opening line was, “There is a lawyer named Yug Chaudhry coming all the way from Mumbai for this.” The judge immediately said, “So what difference does it make?” Adv. Bhattacharya’s response was “Yes it makes a difference; it makes a difference because nobody in Assam came forward for this and it took a Human Rights advocate from Mumbai to do this. So it makes a difference” The judge had to agree.
The arguments went on. The judge asked, “So why have you come to the High Court? Why not go to the Apex Court?” Adv. Bhattacharya’s response every time was really good. He said, “Yes we should go to the Supreme Court. But who would go? This old mother? (Pointing at the mother) Do you think she’s in a capacity to go? Even if she goes, don’t you think that Mahendra Das will be hanged by then?” The question raised was to seek an explanation for the inordinate delay from President’s office.
The judge asked the State lawyers and all they could say was “How can we not listen to the Supreme court’s orders?” They have been asked to file a reply before the next hearing on 17th June. The judges gave a very positive order stating Triveniben (SCR p.596: SCC p.357: SCC (Cri) p.474, para 20). Till then the proposed execution of the man remained in suspension.
The next hearing took place on 17th July 2011. The family came to the court. We didn’t know till our matter came up that the State had filed a reply. However the Centre did not and hence we were given another date which is 21st July 2011. The family invited me to their home. I couldn’t say no. I travelled for three hours to reach their house. Mahendra Das’s house is in a pitiful state. A heavy rain can demolish the whole structure. The family has a hand to mouth existence. I wonder how they managed to come to Guahati High Court for the hearing spending so much of money! The mother spoke only in Assamese. His sister translated it for me. She asked me, “So when is my son going to be released?” I didn’t have an answer. The sister asked me, “So what will happen? Will his sentence be commuted to life?” I said, “We all are hoping for that but one simply cannot say ‘It will be done’. There is a great possibility that they might just reject it in the High Court. But we all still hope that the Court and the State of Assam will do everything in their power to commute this sentence”. She again asked, “But they haven’t found a hangman yet, have they?” I couldn’t bring myself to lie, I said, “If I am not mistaken, they have found a hangman from Meerut”. We all were silent for a moment. I again told them that, “We all hope that our country realizes that it is barbaric to execute a person after 15 years in the prison”. The relatives dropped me back in Guahati, asked me to come back again when Mahendra Das is home. I nodded and left.
RMG
In the meantime,Adv. Arup Borbora asked for a special bench of two judges to be created and it was done as this was a special matter. The court proceedings began at 3:45 where a special bench of judges (Justice BP Katakey and Justice BK Sharma) was constituted to hear this matter as the Chief Justice was out of town. The counsel on behalf of the mother were Senior Advocates A.K. Bhattacharya, Arup Borbora and Yug Chaudhry. We were in Court Room No. 4 where the relatives asked me sit beside them. I sat next to them of course - more than for them, it was for my own contentment. The counsel Adv. Bhattacharya spoke and his opening line was, “There is a lawyer named Yug Chaudhry coming all the way from Mumbai for this.” The judge immediately said, “So what difference does it make?” Adv. Bhattacharya’s response was “Yes it makes a difference; it makes a difference because nobody in Assam came forward for this and it took a Human Rights advocate from Mumbai to do this. So it makes a difference” The judge had to agree.
The arguments went on. The judge asked, “So why have you come to the High Court? Why not go to the Apex Court?” Adv. Bhattacharya’s response every time was really good. He said, “Yes we should go to the Supreme Court. But who would go? This old mother? (Pointing at the mother) Do you think she’s in a capacity to go? Even if she goes, don’t you think that Mahendra Das will be hanged by then?” The question raised was to seek an explanation for the inordinate delay from President’s office.
The judge asked the State lawyers and all they could say was “How can we not listen to the Supreme court’s orders?” They have been asked to file a reply before the next hearing on 17th June. The judges gave a very positive order stating Triveniben (SCR p.596: SCC p.357: SCC (Cri) p.474, para 20). Till then the proposed execution of the man remained in suspension.
The next hearing took place on 17th July 2011. The family came to the court. We didn’t know till our matter came up that the State had filed a reply. However the Centre did not and hence we were given another date which is 21st July 2011. The family invited me to their home. I couldn’t say no. I travelled for three hours to reach their house. Mahendra Das’s house is in a pitiful state. A heavy rain can demolish the whole structure. The family has a hand to mouth existence. I wonder how they managed to come to Guahati High Court for the hearing spending so much of money! The mother spoke only in Assamese. His sister translated it for me. She asked me, “So when is my son going to be released?” I didn’t have an answer. The sister asked me, “So what will happen? Will his sentence be commuted to life?” I said, “We all are hoping for that but one simply cannot say ‘It will be done’. There is a great possibility that they might just reject it in the High Court. But we all still hope that the Court and the State of Assam will do everything in their power to commute this sentence”. She again asked, “But they haven’t found a hangman yet, have they?” I couldn’t bring myself to lie, I said, “If I am not mistaken, they have found a hangman from Meerut”. We all were silent for a moment. I again told them that, “We all hope that our country realizes that it is barbaric to execute a person after 15 years in the prison”. The relatives dropped me back in Guahati, asked me to come back again when Mahendra Das is home. I nodded and left.
RMG
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