News Analysis India

Tag: death penalty

  • Ujjain minor rape case: Father of accused held seeks death penalty for son 

    By PTI

    UJJAIN: The father of the man arrested for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl here on Friday demanded capital punishment for his son, while the local bar association appealed that no lawyer should defend him in the court.

    The opposition Congress, meanwhile, continued to target the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh over the incident and questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

    Bharat Soni, an auto-rickshaw driver, was arrested in the case on Thursday.

    “It is a shameful act. Neither have I gone to the hospital to meet him, nor will I go to the police station or courts. My son has committed a crime, therefore he should be hanged,” his father told reporters here.

    Ujjain Bar Council president Ashok Yadav said the incident had damaged the reputation of the temple city.

    “We are appealing to our members not to take up the case of the accused,” he said.

    Bharat Soni was arrested three days after a girl, aged about 12, was found walking on the city streets in an injured condition. A medical examination established that she had been raped.

    Soni sustained an injury when he allegedly tried to escape while being taken to the crime spot for investigation, police said on Thursday. The girl was admitted to the Government Maharaja Tukojirao Holkar Women’s Hospital in Indore where she underwent a major surgery on Wednesday.

    ALSO READ | Man arrested for raping minor girl in Ujjain, `tries to escape’ during probe 

    A counsellor interacted with her and found that she belongs to the Satna district of MP. But she could not tell her name or address properly. Police had said that a complaint about a girl of the same age going missing had been registered in Satna, but it was to be confirmed if the rape survivor was the same girl.

    The Congress slammed the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh where assembly elections are due by the year-end.

    Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate alleged that the law-and-order situation in the state had considerably deteriorated under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

    “In Madhya Pradesh, being a Dalit, tribal and woman has become a sin. Madhya Pradesh is number one in rapes of minors. Fifty-eight thousand rape cases and 68,000 kidnapping cases have been reported in 18 years of his (Chouhan’s) rule. But the country’s prime minister, home minister, and all the BJP leaders are just sitting silent,” Shrinate told reporters in Delhi.

    ALSO READ | Ujjain: On camera, minor girl found unconscious, semi-naked and bleeding after rape

    She also questioned the “silence” of Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, the National Commission for Women (NCW), and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) over the incident.

    Randeep Singh Surjewala, the Congress general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh, claimed that the attack on this “Dalit girl” was more brutal than that on the Nirbhaya case victim.

    Surjewala also visited the Holkar Women’s Hospital in Indore.

    UJJAIN: The father of the man arrested for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl here on Friday demanded capital punishment for his son, while the local bar association appealed that no lawyer should defend him in the court.

    The opposition Congress, meanwhile, continued to target the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh over the incident and questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

    Bharat Soni, an auto-rickshaw driver, was arrested in the case on Thursday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2′); });

    “It is a shameful act. Neither have I gone to the hospital to meet him, nor will I go to the police station or courts. My son has committed a crime, therefore he should be hanged,” his father told reporters here.

    Ujjain Bar Council president Ashok Yadav said the incident had damaged the reputation of the temple city.

    “We are appealing to our members not to take up the case of the accused,” he said.

    Bharat Soni was arrested three days after a girl, aged about 12, was found walking on the city streets in an injured condition. A medical examination established that she had been raped.

    Soni sustained an injury when he allegedly tried to escape while being taken to the crime spot for investigation, police said on Thursday. The girl was admitted to the Government Maharaja Tukojirao Holkar Women’s Hospital in Indore where she underwent a major surgery on Wednesday.

    ALSO READ | Man arrested for raping minor girl in Ujjain, `tries to escape’ during probe 

    A counsellor interacted with her and found that she belongs to the Satna district of MP. But she could not tell her name or address properly. Police had said that a complaint about a girl of the same age going missing had been registered in Satna, but it was to be confirmed if the rape survivor was the same girl.

    The Congress slammed the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh where assembly elections are due by the year-end.

    Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate alleged that the law-and-order situation in the state had considerably deteriorated under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

    “In Madhya Pradesh, being a Dalit, tribal and woman has become a sin. Madhya Pradesh is number one in rapes of minors. Fifty-eight thousand rape cases and 68,000 kidnapping cases have been reported in 18 years of his (Chouhan’s) rule. But the country’s prime minister, home minister, and all the BJP leaders are just sitting silent,” Shrinate told reporters in Delhi.

    ALSO READ | Ujjain: On camera, minor girl found unconscious, semi-naked and bleeding after rape

    She also questioned the “silence” of Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, the National Commission for Women (NCW), and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) over the incident.

    Randeep Singh Surjewala, the Congress general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh, claimed that the attack on this “Dalit girl” was more brutal than that on the Nirbhaya case victim.

    Surjewala also visited the Holkar Women’s Hospital in Indore.

  • SC sets aside conviction, death penalty awarded to man in rape-cum-murder case 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has quashed the conviction and death penalty awarded to a man for the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in 2010, saying “multitudinous lapses” in the investigation have compromised the quest to punish the doer of such a barbaric act in absolute peril.

    Referring to the manner in which a probe into the case was undertaken by the Maharashtra Police, the apex court said numerous lapses blot the entire map and there were “yawning gaps” in the chain of circumstances rendering it far from being established.

    A bench headed by Justice B R Gavai delivered its verdict on the appeals filed by the accused against the October 2015 judgement of the Bombay High Court which had affirmed the conviction and death sentence awarded to him by a trial court.

    While allowing the appeals, the top court quashed the verdict convicting the accused and directed that he be set at liberty forthwith, if not required in any other case.

    The bench, also comprising justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol, said it was true that the unfortunate incident did take place and at the tender age of six, a life for which much was in store in the future was terrifyingly destroyed and extinguished.

    It said the parents of the victim have suffered an unfathomable loss, a wound for which there is no remedy.

    “Despite such painful realities being part of this case, we cannot hold within law, the prosecution to have undergone all necessary lengths and efforts to take the steps necessary for driving home the guilt of the appellant and that of none else in the crime,” the bench said in its judgement delivered on Friday.

    “There are, in fact, yawning gaps in the chain of circumstances rendering it far from being established-pointing to the guilt of the appellant,” it said.

    The apex court noted that an FIR was lodged in June 2010 at Thane in Maharashtra and the trial court, in November 2014, had convicted the accused and imposed capital punishment for the offence of murder.

    It said the courts below had concurrently found the prosecution to have established the case beyond reasonable doubt that the accused, after sexually assaulting the minor girl, had put her to death and thrown the body in a drain to destroy the evidence.

    The apex court noted that it was a case of circumstantial evidence, as none has witnessed the crime for which the appellant stands charged.

    “The prosecution case is primarily based, not on ocular evidence but on the confessional statement of the appellant leading to the recovery of incriminating articles and through scientific analysis establishing his guilt. The sheet anchor of the case is the DNA analysis report,” it said.

    The bench said even though the DNA evidence by way of a report was present, “its reliability is not infallible, especially not so in light of the fact that the uncompromised nature of such evidence cannot be established; and other that cogent evidence as can be seen from our discussion above, is absent almost in its entirety.”

    The bench said the reasons why the investigation officers were changed time and again were “surprising and unexplained”.

    It noted there was unexplained delay in sending the samples collected for analysis, the alleged disclosure statement of the appellant was never read over and explained to him in his vernacular language and what was the basis of him being a suspect at the first instance, remains a mystery.

    “Such multitudinous lapses have compromised the quest to punish the doer of such a barbaric act in absolute peril,” the bench said.

    It said the crime committed against the minor child was unquestionably evil and wrong on its own, without the prohibition of law making it so.

    “This fact, coupled with the duty upon the investigating authorities not only to protect the citizens of the country but also ensure fair and proper investigations into crimes affecting the society, as in the present case, casts upon such authorities, in the considered view of this court, not only legal but also a moral duty to take all possible steps within the letter of the law to bring the doers of such acts to the book,” the bench said.

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has quashed the conviction and death penalty awarded to a man for the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in 2010, saying “multitudinous lapses” in the investigation have compromised the quest to punish the doer of such a barbaric act in absolute peril.

    Referring to the manner in which a probe into the case was undertaken by the Maharashtra Police, the apex court said numerous lapses blot the entire map and there were “yawning gaps” in the chain of circumstances rendering it far from being established.

    A bench headed by Justice B R Gavai delivered its verdict on the appeals filed by the accused against the October 2015 judgement of the Bombay High Court which had affirmed the conviction and death sentence awarded to him by a trial court.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    While allowing the appeals, the top court quashed the verdict convicting the accused and directed that he be set at liberty forthwith, if not required in any other case.

    The bench, also comprising justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol, said it was true that the unfortunate incident did take place and at the tender age of six, a life for which much was in store in the future was terrifyingly destroyed and extinguished.

    It said the parents of the victim have suffered an unfathomable loss, a wound for which there is no remedy.

    “Despite such painful realities being part of this case, we cannot hold within law, the prosecution to have undergone all necessary lengths and efforts to take the steps necessary for driving home the guilt of the appellant and that of none else in the crime,” the bench said in its judgement delivered on Friday.

    “There are, in fact, yawning gaps in the chain of circumstances rendering it far from being established-pointing to the guilt of the appellant,” it said.

    The apex court noted that an FIR was lodged in June 2010 at Thane in Maharashtra and the trial court, in November 2014, had convicted the accused and imposed capital punishment for the offence of murder.

    It said the courts below had concurrently found the prosecution to have established the case beyond reasonable doubt that the accused, after sexually assaulting the minor girl, had put her to death and thrown the body in a drain to destroy the evidence.

    The apex court noted that it was a case of circumstantial evidence, as none has witnessed the crime for which the appellant stands charged.

    “The prosecution case is primarily based, not on ocular evidence but on the confessional statement of the appellant leading to the recovery of incriminating articles and through scientific analysis establishing his guilt. The sheet anchor of the case is the DNA analysis report,” it said.

    The bench said even though the DNA evidence by way of a report was present, “its reliability is not infallible, especially not so in light of the fact that the uncompromised nature of such evidence cannot be established; and other that cogent evidence as can be seen from our discussion above, is absent almost in its entirety.”

    The bench said the reasons why the investigation officers were changed time and again were “surprising and unexplained”.

    It noted there was unexplained delay in sending the samples collected for analysis, the alleged disclosure statement of the appellant was never read over and explained to him in his vernacular language and what was the basis of him being a suspect at the first instance, remains a mystery.

    “Such multitudinous lapses have compromised the quest to punish the doer of such a barbaric act in absolute peril,” the bench said.

    It said the crime committed against the minor child was unquestionably evil and wrong on its own, without the prohibition of law making it so.

    “This fact, coupled with the duty upon the investigating authorities not only to protect the citizens of the country but also ensure fair and proper investigations into crimes affecting the society, as in the present case, casts upon such authorities, in the considered view of this court, not only legal but also a moral duty to take all possible steps within the letter of the law to bring the doers of such acts to the book,” the bench said.

  • Gorakhpur temple attack: ATS court hands death sentence to accused Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: An anti-terror court in Lucknow, on Monday, awarded death penalty to Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi, who was convicted for attacking a security staff at Gorakhpur’s Gorakhnath temple with a sharp-edged weapon in April, last year.

    Abbasi was convicted by the special ATS court judge Vivekananda Sharan Pandey in Lucknow on Saturday. An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduate, Abbasi had tried to forcibly enter the Gorakhnath Muthh premises of which UP CM Yogi Adityanath is head priest, on April 3, last year.

    In the attack, two constables of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) were injured. However, the attacker was overpowered by the security personnel and arrested. The Uttar Pradesh ATS had carried out the investigation in connection with the incident

    According to the FIR lodged by head constable Vinay Kumar Mishra on April 4, last year while he was guarding Gate number 1 of the temple as security in-charge, Abbasi attacked his companion constable Anil Kumar Paswan with a sickle injuring him and tried to enter the temple forcibly. When other security guards stopped him, he also injured another sepoy Gopal Gaur and started chanting religious slogans while brandishing the sickle.

    The FIR had also said that finally Abbasi was overpowered and his weapon along with with his laptop and some radical literature in Urdu was recovered.

    Prashant Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (ADG-Law and Order), had claimed that there could be a terror angle behind the incident. The Uttar Pradesh Home Department had also termed the incident as a part of a deep conspiracy saying that it could be a terror incident.

    Later the investigation was handed over to UP ATS and investigation Officer Deputy SP Sanjai Verma filed the chargesheet in the case after the investigation.

    The state government had arranged a lawyer for the accused who continued to claim that he attacked the security guards as he was mentally unstable but failed to substantiate it. The testimony of 27 witnesses led to Abbasi’s conviction in the case.

    LUCKNOW: An anti-terror court in Lucknow, on Monday, awarded death penalty to Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi, who was convicted for attacking a security staff at Gorakhpur’s Gorakhnath temple with a sharp-edged weapon in April, last year.

    Abbasi was convicted by the special ATS court judge Vivekananda Sharan Pandey in Lucknow on Saturday. An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduate, Abbasi had tried to forcibly enter the Gorakhnath Muthh premises of which UP CM Yogi Adityanath is head priest, on April 3, last year.

    In the attack, two constables of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) were injured. However, the attacker was overpowered by the security personnel and arrested. The Uttar Pradesh ATS had carried out the investigation in connection with the incident

    According to the FIR lodged by head constable Vinay Kumar Mishra on April 4, last year while he was guarding Gate number 1 of the temple as security in-charge, Abbasi attacked his companion constable Anil Kumar Paswan with a sickle injuring him and tried to enter the temple forcibly. When other security guards stopped him, he also injured another sepoy Gopal Gaur and started chanting religious slogans while brandishing the sickle.

    The FIR had also said that finally Abbasi was overpowered and his weapon along with with his laptop and some radical literature in Urdu was recovered.

    Prashant Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (ADG-Law and Order), had claimed that there could be a terror angle behind the incident. The Uttar Pradesh Home Department had also termed the incident as a part of a deep conspiracy saying that it could be a terror incident.

    Later the investigation was handed over to UP ATS and investigation Officer Deputy SP Sanjai Verma filed the chargesheet in the case after the investigation.

    The state government had arranged a lawyer for the accused who continued to claim that he attacked the security guards as he was mentally unstable but failed to substantiate it. The testimony of 27 witnesses led to Abbasi’s conviction in the case.

  • Haryana: Court awards death penalty to 56-year-old man for raping minor daughter

    By ANI

    SIRSA (Haryana): A district court on Thursday gave a death sentence to a 56-year-old man, convicted of raping his 11-year-old minor girl in Sirsa district two years ago.

    The accused was facing charges under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Section 506 of the IPC.

    Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Kumar of the Fast Track Court awarded a death sentence to Jaspal, a resident of village Bhangu in Sirsa district and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the rape convict.

    The court has also ordered a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the minor victim.

    The case pertains to September 20 2020, a minor girl was raped in Bhangu village of the district. On the complaint of the victim’s mother, the police had registered a case against the child’s father for rape under the POCSO Act. During the investigation, the police arrested the accused Jaspal

    Sirsa District attorney Rajiv Sardana said as per the FIR, the accused, who worked as a labourer, returned home drunk on the intervening night of September 26 and 27 and thrashed his wife (the victim girl’s mother) and forced her to leave the house. Later the same night, the accused raped his minor daughter twice in an inebriated condition. The FIR revealed that the accused threatened the girl not to divulge the incident to anybody. He left home in the morning.

    “The fast track court, considering the case as rarest, awarded the death penalty to the rapist. Although there was some delay due to the pandemic, prompt action has been taken,” Deputy District Judge Rajeev Sardana added.

    Welcoming the Court’s order Chandrarekha, the defendant’s counsel said, “as no one was to take the case of the accused so I was appointed by the Court,” adding that this was a commendable verdict. 

    SIRSA (Haryana): A district court on Thursday gave a death sentence to a 56-year-old man, convicted of raping his 11-year-old minor girl in Sirsa district two years ago.

    The accused was facing charges under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Section 506 of the IPC.

    Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Kumar of the Fast Track Court awarded a death sentence to Jaspal, a resident of village Bhangu in Sirsa district and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the rape convict.

    The court has also ordered a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the minor victim.

    The case pertains to September 20 2020, a minor girl was raped in Bhangu village of the district. On the complaint of the victim’s mother, the police had registered a case against the child’s father for rape under the POCSO Act. During the investigation, the police arrested the accused Jaspal

    Sirsa District attorney Rajiv Sardana said as per the FIR, the accused, who worked as a labourer, returned home drunk on the intervening night of September 26 and 27 and thrashed his wife (the victim girl’s mother) and forced her to leave the house. Later the same night, the accused raped his minor daughter twice in an inebriated condition. The FIR revealed that the accused threatened the girl not to divulge the incident to anybody. He left home in the morning.

    “The fast track court, considering the case as rarest, awarded the death penalty to the rapist. Although there was some delay due to the pandemic, prompt action has been taken,” Deputy District Judge Rajeev Sardana added.

    Welcoming the Court’s order Chandrarekha, the defendant’s counsel said, “as no one was to take the case of the accused so I was appointed by the Court,” adding that this was a commendable verdict. 

  • Supreme Court affirms death penalty of LeT terrorist in 2000 Red Fort attack case

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the plea of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq seeking review of its judgement awarding death penalty to him in the 2000 Red Fort attack case that left three people, including two Army jawans, dead.

    A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi said that it has accepted the prayers that electronic records be considered.

    “We have accepted the prayers that electronic records must be placed in consideration. His guilt is proved. We affirm the view taken by this court and reject the review petition,” the bench said.

    Arif was one of the accused, who had entered the Red Fort on December 22, 2000 and had opened indiscriminate firing leading to the death of three.

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the plea of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq seeking review of its judgement awarding death penalty to him in the 2000 Red Fort attack case that left three people, including two Army jawans, dead.

    A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi said that it has accepted the prayers that electronic records be considered.

    “We have accepted the prayers that electronic records must be placed in consideration. His guilt is proved. We affirm the view taken by this court and reject the review petition,” the bench said.

    Arif was one of the accused, who had entered the Red Fort on December 22, 2000 and had opened indiscriminate firing leading to the death of three.

  • Death penalty: SC verdict Monday on case related to framing guidelines on mitigating circumstances 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver on Monday its verdict on a suo motu plea on framing of guidelines on how and when potential mitigating circumstances be considered by courts during trial in cases which entail the death penalty as the maximum punishment.

    A death sentence is irreversible and every opportunity should be given to the accused for consideration of mitigating circumstances so that the court concludes that capital punishment is not warranted, a bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit had observed while reserving its verdict on August 17.

    The top court, on its own, had taken note of the issue saying that there was an urgent need to ensure that the mitigating circumstances for conviction of offences that carry the possibility of a death sentence are considered at the trial stage.

    The case was titled as “Framing Guidelines Regarding Potential Mitigating Circumstances to be Considered While Imposing Death Sentences”.

    It had said for an offence carrying capital punishment, the state must, at an appropriate stage, produce material that is preferably collected beforehand, before the Sessions Court disclosing the psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the accused.

    The bench had said currently, the crime and its nature, whether it falls under the rarest of rare category, are discussed and the criminal and the mitigating circumstances favouring him are only dealt with at the time of sentencing.

    In criminal law, mitigating circumstances are factors that help lessen the guilt of an offender and encourage the judge to be more lenient with the sentencing.

    Senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, assisting the bench as an amicus curiae (friend of court), had submitted that mitigating circumstances are to be framed as per the earlier orders of the apex court.

    Attorney General K K Venugopal, who was also assisting the bench, said that the task to consider mitigating circumstances against the award of death penalty can be left to the high courts which, in any case, have to approve the capital punishment.

    The bench said that it would deprive the lower court judge an opportunity to have a look at the mitigating circumstances favouring the accused.

    The suo motu case has been registered to examine and institutionalise the process involved in collection of data and information to decide the award of the death penalty.

    The matter had arisen from a plea of a man named Irfan challenging the death penalty imposed on him by the trial court and confirmed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

    The bench, earlier, had decided to examine how courts dealing with a death sentence case can procure a comprehensive analysis about the accused and the crime, especially the mitigating circumstances so that the judicial officer concerned can decide whether the death sentence needs to be awarded.

    Prior to this, an application was filed by ‘Project 39A of the National Law University, Delhi, an anti-death penalty body, seeking the nod for an investigator who would collect mitigating information in favour of the accused to argue on the sentencing.

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver on Monday its verdict on a suo motu plea on framing of guidelines on how and when potential mitigating circumstances be considered by courts during trial in cases which entail the death penalty as the maximum punishment.

    A death sentence is irreversible and every opportunity should be given to the accused for consideration of mitigating circumstances so that the court concludes that capital punishment is not warranted, a bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit had observed while reserving its verdict on August 17.

    The top court, on its own, had taken note of the issue saying that there was an urgent need to ensure that the mitigating circumstances for conviction of offences that carry the possibility of a death sentence are considered at the trial stage.

    The case was titled as “Framing Guidelines Regarding Potential Mitigating Circumstances to be Considered While Imposing Death Sentences”.

    It had said for an offence carrying capital punishment, the state must, at an appropriate stage, produce material that is preferably collected beforehand, before the Sessions Court disclosing the psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the accused.

    The bench had said currently, the crime and its nature, whether it falls under the rarest of rare category, are discussed and the criminal and the mitigating circumstances favouring him are only dealt with at the time of sentencing.

    In criminal law, mitigating circumstances are factors that help lessen the guilt of an offender and encourage the judge to be more lenient with the sentencing.

    Senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, assisting the bench as an amicus curiae (friend of court), had submitted that mitigating circumstances are to be framed as per the earlier orders of the apex court.

    Attorney General K K Venugopal, who was also assisting the bench, said that the task to consider mitigating circumstances against the award of death penalty can be left to the high courts which, in any case, have to approve the capital punishment.

    The bench said that it would deprive the lower court judge an opportunity to have a look at the mitigating circumstances favouring the accused.

    The suo motu case has been registered to examine and institutionalise the process involved in collection of data and information to decide the award of the death penalty.

    The matter had arisen from a plea of a man named Irfan challenging the death penalty imposed on him by the trial court and confirmed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

    The bench, earlier, had decided to examine how courts dealing with a death sentence case can procure a comprehensive analysis about the accused and the crime, especially the mitigating circumstances so that the judicial officer concerned can decide whether the death sentence needs to be awarded.

    Prior to this, an application was filed by ‘Project 39A of the National Law University, Delhi, an anti-death penalty body, seeking the nod for an investigator who would collect mitigating information in favour of the accused to argue on the sentencing.

  • Main accused in murder of two Kolkata teens held; mothers seek death penalty

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The prime suspect in the murder of two 17-year-old boys from Kolkata was arrested in West Bengal’s Howrah district on Friday morning, police said.

    Satyendra Choudhury, the main accused in the twin murder case, was apprehended by a special team from Howrah railway station as he was trying to flee, a senior officer of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said.

    Four alleged accomplices of Choudhury were earlier held in connection with the incident.

    Family members of the two boys — Atanu Dey and Abhisek Naskar — said they would want Choudhury and others involved in the double murder be given death penalty.

    “The police could not return Atanu. They could not prevent his murder. Now, my only wish is to see his tormentor and murderer getting death penalty,” the grief-stricken mother told reporters who gathered at her home in Jagatpur locality of Baguihati.

    “He (the prime accused) ran a bike repair shop in our locality, and was addressed as ‘Kaku’ (uncle) by Atanu. My son blindly trusted him when he promised to get Atanu a fancy second-hand bike. And he abducted my son and killed him. Such a person can be a threat to society if allowed to live,” the mother maintained.

    Naskar’s mother said the two children could be alive had the police been proactive.

    “If only the police had shown the same alacrity when we lodged the missing diary as it did in nabbing the accused, my child would have been alive. We want nothing short of a death penalty for the culprits,” she stated.

    State Congress president Adhir Choudhury met the grieving family members during the day.

    He sought a probe to find out “what led the police to delay its proceedings”.

    On Thursday, TMC MP Sougata Roy, state fire minister Sujit Bose and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Firhad Hakim had visited the homes of the boys and promised action against the accused.

    Roy had also castigated the police for “faltering in the investigation process”.

    Earlier, members of the BJP’s women wing as well as CPI(M) activists had held separate demonstrations outside Baguiati police station on September 7.

    Bodies of two boys were found at a morgue in Basirhat on September 6, almost a fortnight after they went missing.

    The police later said that the duo was strangled to death.

    Local police in the Malancha area of North 24 Parganas district had spotted the bodies on Basanti Highway and taken them to the morgue.

    The state government had on Wednesday suspended the inspector in-charge and another officer of the Baguiati Police Station, where a missing complaint was lodged by the parents of the boys.

    The case has now been handed over to the state CID.

    KOLKATA: The prime suspect in the murder of two 17-year-old boys from Kolkata was arrested in West Bengal’s Howrah district on Friday morning, police said.

    Satyendra Choudhury, the main accused in the twin murder case, was apprehended by a special team from Howrah railway station as he was trying to flee, a senior officer of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said.

    Four alleged accomplices of Choudhury were earlier held in connection with the incident.

    Family members of the two boys — Atanu Dey and Abhisek Naskar — said they would want Choudhury and others involved in the double murder be given death penalty.

    “The police could not return Atanu. They could not prevent his murder. Now, my only wish is to see his tormentor and murderer getting death penalty,” the grief-stricken mother told reporters who gathered at her home in Jagatpur locality of Baguihati.

    “He (the prime accused) ran a bike repair shop in our locality, and was addressed as ‘Kaku’ (uncle) by Atanu. My son blindly trusted him when he promised to get Atanu a fancy second-hand bike. And he abducted my son and killed him. Such a person can be a threat to society if allowed to live,” the mother maintained.

    Naskar’s mother said the two children could be alive had the police been proactive.

    “If only the police had shown the same alacrity when we lodged the missing diary as it did in nabbing the accused, my child would have been alive. We want nothing short of a death penalty for the culprits,” she stated.

    State Congress president Adhir Choudhury met the grieving family members during the day.

    He sought a probe to find out “what led the police to delay its proceedings”.

    On Thursday, TMC MP Sougata Roy, state fire minister Sujit Bose and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Firhad Hakim had visited the homes of the boys and promised action against the accused.

    Roy had also castigated the police for “faltering in the investigation process”.

    Earlier, members of the BJP’s women wing as well as CPI(M) activists had held separate demonstrations outside Baguiati police station on September 7.

    Bodies of two boys were found at a morgue in Basirhat on September 6, almost a fortnight after they went missing.

    The police later said that the duo was strangled to death.

    Local police in the Malancha area of North 24 Parganas district had spotted the bodies on Basanti Highway and taken them to the morgue.

    The state government had on Wednesday suspended the inspector in-charge and another officer of the Baguiati Police Station, where a missing complaint was lodged by the parents of the boys.

    The case has now been handed over to the state CID.

  • Supreme Court initiates suo moto case to lay down guidelines for death penalty cases

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday initiated a suo motu case to develop guidelines to be followed by courts across the country, while considering matters which deal with death sentences.

    The top court said that it will examine and institutionalise a mechanism involved in collection of information and other data points to decide the award of sentence in death penalty cases. A three judge bench led by Justice UU Lalit sought assistance from Attorney General  KK  Venugopal, and also issued a notice to the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

    The bench indicated that it would lay down guidelines to be followed by courts across the country in connection with cases involving death sentences. The bench also orally observed that convicts are at a stage where the litigation assistance is bare minimum.

    The matter would now be heard on May 10.

    The Court order came while hearing a matter challenging the death sentence. The petitioner Irfan alias Bhayu Mevati has challenged the death penalty awarded by a local court in Madhya Pradesh and and confirmed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The convict was facing allegation of raping a minor girl.

    Last month, the court decided to examine issues, including revamping the manner in which death sentences are handed down by the courts. 

    The top court registered the case to examine how the courts, which deal with death sentence matters, can develop a comprehensive analysis on the nature of the crime and the accused. It also pointed at the mitigating circumstances, which the concerned court can look into, while deciding whether a death sentence should be awarded or not.

    The top court initiated the process after an application was filed by anti-death penalty body, Project 39A of National Law University (NLU), Delhi.

    The plea had said that in  the context of death eligible cases, mitigation is an exercise of collection, documentation and analysis of a wide range of information like historical, cultural, social, familial and individual factors and any other relevant factors that influence an individual’s perception, response, and their understanding of the world and people around them. 

    “The purpose of the exercise is not to provide an excuse or justification for the offence. Its purpose is to better appreciate the social and individual context and circumstances of the accused while determining the extent of their culpabitliy and blameworthiness in relation to the death penalty.” It said,

    According to the sixth edition of the Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report, As on 31st December 2021, there were 488 prisoners on death row across India (a steep rise of nearly 21% from 2020), with Uttar Pradesh having the highest number at 86. This is the highest the death row population has been since 2004 as per the data from the Prison Statistics published by the National Crime Records Bureau.

    The report Deathworthy  by NLU Delhi, presented empirical data on mental illness and intellectual disability among death row prisoners in India and the psychological consequences of living on death row. The report finds that an overwhelming majority of death row prisoners interviewed (62.2 per cent) had a mental illness and 11 per cent had intellectual disability.

    The proportion of persons with mental illness and intellectual disability on death row is overwhelmingly higher than the proportion in the community population. The report also establishes correlations between conditions of death row incarceration and mental illness and ill-health. 

  • SC to hear 40 ‘death cases’ from September 7 including LeT terrorist Ashaf’s sentence

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has issued a circular stating that 40 ‘Death Cases’ will be listed before three-judge benches starting from September 7 including the one related to LeT terrorist Mohammad Arif.

    The list includes four review petitions of convicts whose appeals were dismissed by the court upholding the death penalty.

    One of the cases scheduled to be heard by the top court relates to the sentence of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq in the 2000 Red Fort attack case in which three people, including two Army jawans, were killed.

    The top court had earlier issued a fresh standard operating procedure (SOP) to accord final hearing of cases in physical mode from September 1 and said it will employ a hybrid option from Tuesday to Thursday with strict observance of COVID-19 norms.

    The top court has been hearing cases through video-conferencing since March last year due to the pandemic and several bar bodies and lawyers have been demanding that physical hearings should resume immediately.

    The SOP, issued by the Secretary-General on August 28, had made it clear that the courts would keep hearing miscellaneous cases through virtual mode on Mondays and Fridays.

  • ‘She embraced death in agony’: Ballia rape victim’s mother demands death penalty for accused BSP MP

    By PTI

    BALLIA (UP): The mother of a 24-year-old woman, who had alleged rape by BSP MP Atul Rai, has demanded that the accused politician be sentenced to death.

    “My daughter was very talented and she was preparing for civil services. She would definitely have become something but she embraced death in agony. I wish that MP Atul Rai, who is responsible for the death of my daughter, should also be sentenced to death…” the victim’s mother told media in her native village at Narhi police station area here Friday.

    “Despite our bad financial state, we will fight to ensure justice to our daughter,” she said, adding that she has faith in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led UP government.

    On August 16, the victim and her friend Satyam Rai had set themselves on fire before the Supreme Court.

    Satyam Rai died on August 21 and the woman died during treatment in Delhi on Tuesday.

    Before the suicide, both had shared their pain on social media.

    The victim, a resident of Ballia district, was a college student in Varanasi.

    A case of rape was lodged against Bahujan Samaj Party’s Ghosi (Mau) MP Atul Rai at the Lanka police station there in May 2019 on her complaint.

    In connection with self-immolation by the victim and her associate before the Supreme Court on August 16, the government had set up an inquiry committee, Director General of Police (DGP) Mukul Goel said in a statement Friday.

    In its interim investigation report, the committee found Atul Rai and Amitabh Thakur prima facie guilty of abetting the victim and her associate witness to commit suicide and other charges and recommended registering a case against them and starting investigation.

    On Friday, police registered a case against Atul Rai and former IPS Amitabh Thakur at Hazratganj Kotwali in Lucknow on charges of abetting suicide and fabricating evidence.

    Thakur has been arrested.