The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will hear on January 15 the appeals filed by the Gujarat government and several other convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case.
The Supreme Court of India ordered the release of a man who had spent 25 years in prison for murder, ruling that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime. The court found that the convict, Om Prakash alias Raju, had been wrongly convicted due to errors by the courts in determining his age. The case highlights the importance of proper age verification and the need for courts to actively ensure the fair treatment of juveniles within the legal system.
The high court upheld total 31 convictions in the case and commuted the death penalties of the 11 convicts to life term, Mehta said.
India has opposed a UN resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, saying it goes against Indian statutory law and the sovereign right of every country to determine their own legal system.
The Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence to a life term of a former Congress leader who was found guilty of murdering his wife and trying to burn the body in a tandoor in 1995, a sensational crime that came to be known as the 'tandoor murder'.
The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned to November 11 the hearing on a plea filed by Nalini Sriharan, serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, seeking premature release.
In its verdict, the top court said that non-examination of one of the daughters and the father of one of the deceased as a witness has no material bearing.
Noting that kidnapping has become a lucrative and thriving industry all over the country, the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of two convicts who kidnapped and murdered a 16-year old school student in Punjab for a Rs 50 lakh ransom.
The Supreme Court asked the Centre to take a decision on Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar's fresh mercy plea by March 27 or else it will decide on the issue of commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of his mental condition.
A convicted murderer is set to be executed by firing squad in the United States state of South Carolina on Friday, marking the state's first use of the method and the first such execution in the US in nearly 15 years.
Nineteen years later, remembering how terror struck Mumbai's lifeline on July 11, 2006.
The apex court was also unhappy over the submission of the counsel for the Centre that the matter be adjourned.
Dara's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sujit Barman Roy and\nJustice Laxmikant Mohapatra.
The timeline of events in the case in which the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of A G Perarivalan, who has served over 30 years in jail in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case invoking its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution.
The Delhi high court on Monday granted bail to four convicts serving life imprisonment in the murder case of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan.
Salim Zarda, a 55-year-old life convict in the 2002 Godhra train carnage case, was arrested in Pune district for theft. Zarda, who had previously jumped parole on eight occasions, was arrested on January 22 by Pune rural police. He was handed over to Nashik police in connection with a theft case registered there. Zarda was among the 31 persons convicted in the Godhra train carnage case. He was released on parole on September 17, 2024, but failed to return.
The government on Friday said in Rajya Sabha that it is "not in favour" of abolishing the capital punishment considering the "prevailing circumstances" in the country.
Seventeen years since a string of powerful bombs ripped through Mumbai's commuter trains system in the evening rush hour on July 11, the Bombay high court is yet to commence hearing on the confirmation of the death penalty given to five convicts in the case.
After being on the death row for 20 years over bombing charges, Indian national Sarabjit Singh is being released with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday commuting his death sentence.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the execution of 1993 Delhi blast terror convict Devender Pal Singh Bhullar.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted the death sentence of Mahendra Nath Das, a condemned prisoner from Assam, to life sentence. Das has been on the death row for the last 16 years and the long delay in deciding the mercy plea was considered as a ground for commuting the death sentence.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the premature release of six convicts, including Nalini Sriharan and R P Ravichandran, serving life term in the assassination case of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, noting that the Tamil Nadu government has recommended remission of their sentence.
"We find that there has been undue and unexplained delay by both the state and Central government in processing the mercy petitions," the court said.
"It happens. It's part of our lives," retired Indian Navy commander B K Verma who has returned from Qatar says with stoicism while talking about his daughter's wedding that he could not attend.
Gopakumar said all of them were hopeful that they would step out of the prison "if Modiji intervened" but had no idea how long it would take.
A T M Azharul Islam, a top leader of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party, was sentenced to death on Tuesday by a Bangladeshi special court for committing war crimes during the country's independence war against Pakistan.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to A G Perarivalan, serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
The Delhi high court on Monday issued a notice to separatist leader Yasin Malik, who is currently serving a life term, on a plea by the National Investigation Agency seeking death penalty for him in a terror funding case.
President Pratibha Patil has commuted the death sentence of 35 people to life imprisonment, the highest by any head of state in three decades.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to review its verdict commuting death sentence of three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case to life imprisonment and dismissed Centre's review petition.
S Nalini, who has been undergoing life imprisonment in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has approached the Supreme Court seeking to declare as "null and void" a provision in law mandating Tamil Nadu government to consult the Centre before releasing seven life term convicts in the case.
Setting foot to their homeland after several agonising months of captivity in Qatar, seven of the eight Indian navy veterans who were sentenced to death on 'espionage' charges, heaped praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying they wouldn't have been freed had it for the sustained diplomatic efforts at his behest to secure their release.
Qatar has released eight jailed former Indian Navy personnel and seven of them returned home early Monday, 46 days after their death sentences handed last October were commuted to jail terms of varying duration.
A bench of Justices UU Lalit and SR Bhat issued notices, including to the state of Bihar, on the plea filed by Shashi Kant Rai, an additional district and sessions judge in Araria.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked about the killing of her father Rajiv Gandhi when she met her in prison in 2008 and she was emotional, Nalini Sriharan, one of the convicts freed in the former prime minister's assassination case said in Chennai on Sunday.
Renewing his demand for abolishing death penalty, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Saturday made a fresh pitch for a state cabinet meeting to adopt a resolution recommending commutation of the death sentence awarded to three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a plea by S Nalini, undergoing life imprisonment in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, challenging the law mandating Centre's approval for her release and that of six other convicts.
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.
After having secured a stay on release of three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Centre on Monday moved the apex court to prevent implementation of Tamil Nadu government's decision to set free four other convicts serving life imprisonment in the case.
