Ahmedabad: High court commutes death sentence to life term

TNN | Apr 14, 2015, 04.06AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court has commuted the death sentence of a convict to life imprisonment in a case of kidnapping and murder of a 9-year-old in Navsari.

Parvez Rana (38) was awarded death penalty in 2012 by a trial court in Navsari district for murdering the boy for a ransom of Rs 50 lakh. The murder took place in 2007.

On January 4, 2007, Nayan Kachrola, son of a diamond polishing unit employee, was kidnapped from outside his school in Navsari. The kidnapper called the boy's father, Hasmukh, and demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh. Police were informed about the incident and the boy's father began arranging for the ransom amount.

A day later, the police recovered the kid's body in a plastic bag from a rivulet. Rana was arrested and he confessed to the crime.

Rana told police that he had kidnapped Nayan to make some quick money. He told the police that he had kept Nayan in a plastic bag and left it at his shop. He kept a watch on police movement from his shop and fearing arrest decided to kill the child. He strangled the child and threw the body in a rivulet.

Rana had challenged the death penalty in the high court. The bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice V M Pancholi concluded that the case did not fall under the rarest of the rare category and reduced the punishment to life imprisonment, said Rana's lawyer Pratik Barot.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/High-court-commutes-death-sentence-to-life-term/articleshow/46914018.cms [last accessed 28.05.2015]

Honour killing: HC commutes to life death sentence of three

Press Trust of India | New Delhi April 17, 2014 Last Updated at 19:16 IST

The Delhi High Court today commuted to life term the death sentence awarded to three members of a family for the honour killing of a teen couple in 2010, saying there is a possibility of their reformation. A special bench of justices S Muralidhar and Mukta Gupta acquitted two others - the girl's mother and aunt - who also had been awarded capital punishment by the trial court, saying they were only "spectators" to the crime and did not share the common intention to murder the couple.

 "The court is of the opinion that ends of justice would be met if convicted appellants Om Prakash and Suraj are awarded the sentence of imprisonment for life which will not be less than 20 years actual. Since, appellant Sanjeev is a young man who was not married, the court considers it fit to sentence him to imprisonment of life subject to remissions.... "Appellants Maya (mother) and Khushboo (aunt) are acquitted of the offences with which they were charged," the bench said.

It said, "The two ladies could be at best be said to be spectators to what was being done by the three men in the house. "No doubt, as a mother and aunt there was an omission on their part to have not saved at least Asha, their daughter. However, the said omission does not qualify the test that they shared the common intention with the three men to commit the murder....," the high court said. Defence lawyer Sumeet Verma had argued that in the absence of an overt act being attributed to Khushboo and Maya, they cannot be convicted for offence of murder on the ground that they shared a common intention to commit the crime.

The court reduced to life term the death sentence awarded to the girl's father, uncle and cousin brother - Suraj, Om Prakash and Sanjeev respectively - saying there is no material placed on record by the State to show they cannot be reformed or are a menace to the society. "Although there are aggravating circumstances, there is no material placed on record by the State to show that the appellants Om Prakash, Suraj and Sanjeev are persons who cannot be reformed or are a menace to the society.... "Thus, this court is of the considered opinion that the penalty of death cannot be awarded to convicted appellants," the bench said.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/hc-commutes-death-penalty-to-life-in-honour-killing-case/ [accessed 24 April 2014]

India’s kindest president commutes 23 death penalty to life term

PTI: Feb 21, 2012

New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil has commuted death sentences of 23 petitioners to life imprisonment during her tenure, which is over 90 percent of the total pardon granted since 1981.

On 9 February, she accepted the clemency petition of Sushil Murmu, pending since 2004, who was convicted for giving sacrifice of a nine-year old boy in Jharkhand for his own prosperity, an RTI response from Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

It said that since 1981, 91 convicts knocked the doors of Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking commutation of their death sentences to life imprisonment. Of these, petitions of 31 individuals were accepted out of which 23 were during her tenure.

According to the reply provided to applicant Subhash Agrawal, 18 mercy petitions were still pending before the president.

Patil, however, in exceptional cases, has rejected the petitions of five individuals which include the three killers of Rajiv Gandhi—Santham, Murughan and Arivu—and Davinder Pal Singh and Mahedra Nath Das of Assam who had murdered 68-year-old Harakanta Das, the then secretary of the Guwahati Truck Drivers Association at a roadside stall.

In Murmu’s case, his sentence was commuted to life by Patil even though he was convicted for the killing, which was termed by the Supreme Court as “an illustrative and most exemplary case to be treated as the ‘rarest of rare cases’ in which death sentence is and should be the rule, with no exception whatsoever”.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/indias-kindest-president-commutes-23-death-penalty-to-life-term-220419.html [accessed 23rd Feb 2012]

Contract killer’s death penalty converted to life imprisonment

New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Monday converted the sentence of a contract killer who had killed a witness six years ago from death penalty to life imprisonment on the grounds that the case did not fall in the category of rarest of the rare. Mani Gopal had murdered the witness, an eunuch, inside the Tis Hazari court premises in 2003 when she was going to record her evidence in a murder case.

Geeta Hazi, a resident of Rajouri Garden in Delhi, had allegedly hired Gopal to eliminate Neelam as there was a dispute between them over control of areas for collection of donations and gifts on auspicious occasions. The accused had fired three shots at Neelam, killing her on the spot. The police arrested Gopal instantly and seized the weapon.

Hazi had earlier in 2002 allegedly hired another killer to eliminate Neelam. But instead of killing Neelam, the killer murdered another eunuch. However, the court had acquitted the contract killer in a separate trial for want of evidence.

A division bench comprising of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Indermeet Kaur said: “Keeping in view the fact that the crime committed by Gopal is more than a murder of an ordinary category, we hold that the instant case falls in the category where the appropriate sentence to be imposed is of imprisonment for life with a direction that Gopal would not be considered for being granted remission till he undergoes an actual sentence of 20 years.” The bench said that by killing the witness the accused had “polluted the stream of justice”.

The court while converting the death penalty to life imprisonment ruled: “To attract the penalty of death, it has to be established that the case falls in the category of the rarest of the rare. “Witnesses being threatened, intimidated or bought over has been plaguing the criminal justice delivery system in India to such an extent that in the eyes of the public the system itself has come under trial.

“The existence of the state is dependent upon a good, effective and efficient criminal justice delivery system. If the same fails, the citizens would settle their disputes in private and the rule of law would cease to exist,” the court said.

Source: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/contract-killers-death-penalty-converted-to-life-imprisonment_100240865.html accessed on 1st September 2009)