Dawn News channel quoted unnamed sources as saying that the Interior Ministry had recommended that Sarabjit's death sentence should not be commuted to life imprisonment as such a pardon would 'encourage subversive activities by Indian terrorists'. Sarabjit is accused of triggering bomb blasts in Lahore in 1990 and has been languishing in Pakistan prisons for nearly two decades.
The Tirunelveli principal sessions court here on Thursday sentenced two persons to death and another to three years rigorous imprisonment in connection with the murder of former Tamil Nadu law minister Aladi Aruna and his close associate in December 2004.
Human rights group Amnesty International has alleged that China would execute an estimated 374 people during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Amnesty said that nearly 70 crimes could carry the death penalty in China and that around 22 prisoners are secretly executed every day. China had admitted using capital punishment 470 times in 2007, but campaigners believe the true figure to be nearly 8,000.
IMAGES from the IPL 2023 match between Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday
Mumbai-based social activist Teesta Setalvad on Monday appeared before a sessions court in Ahmedabad in a case where she is accused of fabricating evidence to frame "innocent" people and defame Gujarat in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
Production, storage and sale of firecrackers in the capital will be punishable with a fine of up to Rs 5,000 and three years jail under Section 9B of the Explosives Act, the minister told a press conference in New Delhi.
The convicts can also avail the constitutional remedy of filing mercy pleas with the President.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, is hogging US media headlines as he mulls challenging a recent controversial Supreme Court ruling forbidding the death penalty in child-rape cases. The Supreme Court's June 25 decision said there was no legal precedent for the death penalty, but the court neglected to consider a 2006 federal law that says the rape of children by military personnel could attract capital punishment.
The statement said nobody has the authority to waive death penalties prescribed by the Quran for certain crimes. "In the case of murder, only the heirs of the deceased have the right to pardon. Death punishment is awarded on the crimes such as robbery, adultery (both male/female) and blasphemy. Even an apostate is supposed to be killed," the statement said.
Mohammed Iqbal Yusuf Shaikh, who planted a scooter bomb, was sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
Two years after the ghastly killing of children and women in Nithari came to light, a special court on Thursday awarded death penalty for businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surendra Koli for rape and murder. While Koli was found guilty by the court under various sections of Indian Penal Code for murder and rape, Pandher was convicted on the same charges along with Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy).
Prisoners facing death row in Pakistan, including Indian national Sarabjit Singh, are likely to get a reprieve with the government "actively considering" a proposal to convert capital punishment into life imprisonment. "A summary prepared by the interior ministry is at an advanced stage and a final decision is expected within a few days," a source was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
The prosecution on Thursday demanded before a Delhi court that senior Indian Police Service Officer R K Sharma and hired killer Pradeep Sharma be awarded capital punishment in the sensational Shivani Bhatnagar murder case. "There are two categories of convicts in the case. Sharma and hired criminal Pradeep had played more active roles than the other two convicts," Special Public Prosecutor S K Saxena said, while seeking gallows for them.
Pakistani TV channel Geo news reported that the move may be an indication that Sarabjit, convicted for triggering blasts killing 14 people in Pakistan in 1990, would not be hanged. However, there was no official word in this regard so far.
"Death sentence prevents replacement of the erroneous pages of the book. This is applicable not only to the common man, but also to dictators like Saddam Hussein," Karunanidhi said.
Mohan's wife and former MP Lovely Anand and three others were awarded life terms. The court had earlier found Mohan and his wife guilty of inciting a mob to lynch district magistrate Krishnaiah in 1994.
Freedom fighter Bhagat Singh's collection of books that was confiscated and used as evidence to award capital punishment to the revolutionary leader in the 1929 Lahore Conspiracy case, is currently lying in a state of neglect in Lahore.
The Special Court of R K Sondhi reserved its verdict on the quantum of sentence till Tuesday after hearing the argument of CBI and the defence lawyer.
Officials said the MHA also directed the city police to serve show-cause notices to the supervisory officers of the PCR vans and police pickets for their alleged dereliction of duties.
A bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and Markandey Katju, while admitting the appeal filed by Sharma, who killed his wife Naina Sahni, referred the matter to a three-judge bench for further hearing.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the execution of two death row convicts in Karnataka scheduled for Thursday even as one of them allegedly attempted to commit suicide in jail.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph, Aniruddha Bose and Hrishikesh Roy said that the court is accepting the report of the Inquiring Judge, who had inquired into the claim of juvenility of convict Narayan Chetanram Chaudhary.
Mohammad Afshaq had challenged the Delhi High Court judgement which upheld the death sentence awarded to him by a trial court.
Does the new UN secretary-general support the death penalty? He won't say clearly.
The world body's headquarters was closed on Saturday and the statement of Qazi was posted on its website.
US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said the elusive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden should be executed if captured alive. "If he was captured alive, then we would make a decision to bring the full weight of not only US justice, but world justice down on him," 47-year-old Obama said in an interview to CNN, excerpts of which were released by the network on Friday.
Six other convicts in the case, including Mohd Ashfaq's wife Rehmana Yousuf Farooqui, were acquitted.
Dilip Tiwari and his associates Sunil Yadav and Manoj Paswan were given capital punishment after they were found guilty of committing the multiple murders two years ago.
The Union home ministry is likely to reject Law Commission's recommendation for abolition of death penalty.
The three convicts who have been sentenced are Mohammad Shoaib Ghansar, Shahnawaz Qureshi and Azgar Mukadam.
Daughters of a Pakistani man killed in the 1991 bomb blast blamed on Sarabjit Singh, have threatened to fast unto death if the Indian prisoner, who is due to be hanged on May 1, is pardoned. The family of Singh, who was handed down capital punishment for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in Lahore and Multan, has been camping in the country hoping to meet top leaders to seek clemency for him.
'It was a machinery of death. A large number of Hindus were first converted and then persecuted from 1560 all the way to 1812!' says novelist Richard Zimler.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren was on Tuesday given life imprisonment for murdering his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha.
If charges warrant the death penalty, should the government stick to its undertaking or should he be given the death penalty?
People pelted stones at police personnel in Prayagraj and Saharanpur and protests broke out after Friday prayers in at least four other cities in Uttar Pradesh over a non-suspended BJP leader's recent remarks on Prophet Muhammad.
The meeting came in the wake of reports that the President favoured aspects like humanitarian, age, physical condition of the convict, family liabilities etc to be considered.
