In more than a decade since 2002, 60 fugitives were extradited or deported by foreign governments to India, which received a major victory in its fight to bring the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice when a US federal court agreed to the extradition of Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana to the country.
The Supreme Court on Thursday awarded life sentence to four convicts in the 1996 Lajpat Nagar bomb blast case for the remainder of their lives without remission, citing the severity of the offence. Thirteen people were killed and nearly 40 injured in the explosion.
Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, who pleaded guilty to plotting the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and conducting reconnaissance for likely targets, will have to undergo a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. According to United States attorney office's spokesperson Randall Samborn, life imprisonment without probation is the maximum sentence that Headley can get."Probation means no jail term, but I said he's not eligible for probation so that's irrelevant," said Samborn.
Facing criticism from the Congress, the government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking a review of its order for premature release of six convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
The court also directed the CBI to continue assessing threat perception to the life and security of the survivor and her family members every three months.
B Chinnaswamy, father of Kausalya, whose husband Shankar was hacked to death in front of her in Udumlapet town and relieved him from all charges including that of criminal conspiracy.
Though he has been awarded 12 years' jail term, under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code, he can get a life imprisonment.
Family members of those convicted alleged that an attempt has been made by the BJP to polarise the UP Assembly elections and questioned the timing of the judgment.
Expunging the second last sentence of paragraph 43 of the 76-page ruling, a bench of Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan replaced it by saying, "After 12 years, the life imprisonment given by the high court need not be interfered with."
Upholding a lower court order, the Kerala high court sentenced prime accused Dharmarajan to life imprisonment, while acquitting seven others in the sensational Suriyanelli rape case.
'In the history of Maharashtra this is the first case in which all the persons chargesheeted were all convicted under all the sections they were charged with, and sentenced to life.'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Piyush Guha, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment along with civil rights activist Binayak Sen in a sedition case. The vacation bench of justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad suspended the sentence of life imprisonment and directed Guha's release on bail.The bench also directed Guha to furnish a bail bond of Rs two lakh and two sureties of one lakh each. Guha, a Kolkata-based businessman, was convicted along with Sen.
A police official said a large number of policemen be deployed during the last rites of Asad to avoid any untoward incident.
The court is likely to hear argument on quantum of sentence on February 14 and the convicts face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The Delhi high court on Monday sentenced the prime convict in the 2002 Maulana Azad Medical College student rape case to life imprisonment. Observing that the accused Rahul had acted "not only as a beast but even acted savage," a bench headed by Justice Pradeep Nandrajog upheld the trial court verdict, which had sentenced him to life imprisonment. The court, however, acquitted the other convict Amit on charges of rape and directed the police to release him.
The Calcutta high court on Thursday rejected the bail prayer of Haldiram Bhujia owner Prabhu Shankar Agarwal who was sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to murder a tea stall owner whose shop came in the way of a food plaza the dry snacks baron was building.
However, the Apex court asked the Delhi High Court to expeditiously consider his appeal against the conviction and life imprisonment awarded by the trial court.
Sharma, son of former Union minister Venod Sharma, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi high court in December 2006 for killing Jessica Lal in 1999.
Defending the panel's recommendation to retain the law, which is at present under abeyance following directions of the Supreme Court issued in May last year, he said enough safeguards have been proposed to prevent its misuse.
A fast track court in Bihar's Gaya district on Monday sentenced to life imprisonment three convicted men in the gangrape case of a Japanese woman tourist near Bodh Gaya on April 16. The decision came after a speedy trial was conducted in the case.
Making the announcement, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told Parliament that the Interior Ministry will be asked to 'move a summary to President Pervez Musharraf to commute the sentence of those on death row to life imprisonment'. Under Pakistan Constitution, the President has powers to commute sentences.
The 11 convicts on Monday walked out of the Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined a plea by sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt seeking the recusal of Justice M R Shah from hearing his petition to submit additional evidence to support his appeal in the Gujarat High Court against his conviction in a 1990 custodial death case.
The 7/11 judgment doesn't render justice to those who died in the blasts or to those who have been convicted for it, kin of one of the convicts tells Prasanna D Zore.
The fourth convict, Pawan Gupta, has not filed a curative petition, which he still can if he chooses.
A special CBI court in Panchkula on Friday convicted Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for the murder of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh in 2002.
Former MLA Ranveer Yadav was convicted in a murder case that dates back to 1988. M I Khan reports from Patna.
The top court made this observation while ordering premature release of a woman convicted for murder of two children.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant bail to Manu Sharma, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in the Jessica Lall murder case. A Bench headed by Justice C K Thakker said that no case for suspension of sentence and grant of bail was made out. The court said the appeal against the conviction is already admitted and likely to be heard within a reasonable time.
Special CBI judge J P S Malik handed down the jail term to the 17 policemen after holding them guilty on June 6 of involvement in the conspiracy to kidnap and kill Ghaziabad resident Ranbir Singh, who went to Dehradun to take up a job on July 3, 2009.
The Uttar Pradesh police had on March 26 also taken Ahmad from the Sabarmati jail in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city to Prayagraj in UP to produce him in a court.
The Jammu and Kashmir police arrested two people who were involved in the killing of Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq, 33 years after the then chief priest of the Valley fell to the bullets of Hizbul Mujahideen assassins, a senior police officer said in Srinagar on Tuesday.
The high court said it is the bounden duty of the state to take care of the lives of all its citizens, and asked the authorities to take adequate care of a woman convict, suffering from schizophrenia, and such other patients.
The special court had convicted them on Friday in the murder case of a Dera manager, Ranjit Singh.
Dara's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sujit Barman Roy and\nJustice Laxmikant Mohapatra.
According to defence lawyers, the special court should not have relied solely on circumstantial evidence and statements of some convicts while giving its judgment.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday awarded rigorous life imprisonment to Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Ghulam Nabi.
Manu Sharma, the convict in the murder case of Jessica, and Mattoo's killer Santosh Singh were among 204 who had approached the board, headed by state Home Minister Satyendar Jain, the sources said.
The case pertains to the death of a man named Prabhudas Madhavji Vaishnani who died on November 11 1990, allegedly due to torture in police custody.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea of self-styled godman Asaram, serving life term in a rape case, for suspension of the sentence because of his deteriorating health condition.
