The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the argument that a three-judge bench, rather than a two-judge bench, should hear appeals of convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case. The court found that the Gujarat High Court commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment, therefore not requiring a three-judge bench. The hearing of the appeals will continue on Wednesday, with the state government seeking restoration of the death sentences of 11 convicts.
The gravity of charges against Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who has been sentenced to death by a Yemeni court after being convicted of murdering a citizen of the country, has made it difficult for the efforts to seek relief for her to succeed, sources said.
For the first time a serving army officer was accused of terrorism.
The Indian government is making every possible effort to save an Indian nurse facing execution in Yemen for murder, the Centre told the Supreme Court.
The Bombay High Court acquitted all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case, citing a failure by the prosecution to prove their guilt and raising serious concerns about the investigation and evidence presented.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail pleas of the convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case who were awarded the death penalty by the trial court but it was commuted to life sentence by the Gujarat high court.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian national accused of playing a role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been extradited from the United States to India. Rana was arrested in the US in 2009 and convicted in 2011 for providing material support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, which carried out the Mumbai attacks. He had been fighting extradition since 2012, but the US Supreme Court ultimately denied his review petition, paving the way for his transfer to India. Rana will now face trial in India for his alleged role in the attacks, which killed 166 people.
The draft of the anti-rape bill, scheduled to be tabled by the Mamata Banerjee government in the West Bengal assembly on Tuesday, proposes capital punishment for persons convicted of rape if their actions result in the victim's death or cause her to become vegetative.
"My son died in agony. All the culprits should be hanged to set an example, so that no family loses its son to such crime in future," Raghuvanshi's father Ashok Raghuvanshi told PTI.
Nineteen years later, remembering how terror struck Mumbai's lifeline on July 11, 2006.
Her father even called for death penalty for Muskan Rastogi and her lover Sahil who allegedly stabbed Saurabh Rajput to death, cut up his body and sealed the remains in a drum filled with cement.
A bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, Vikram Nath and Sanjay Karol said the competent authority will decide the plea of the convict seeking mercy.
Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal is set to formally hear charges against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday allowing state-run BTV to broadcast live the event, a first such instance in the country's history.
The BJP has demanded the death penalty for former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The party's leaders have called for the CBI to appeal the verdict, saying it was not an ordinary murder case but a genocide. The BJP has also said that the "wheels of justice" are starting to turn and that other Congress leaders involved in the riots will soon face consequences.
The West Bengal government has sought permission from the Calcutta High Court to appeal against the Sealdah court order that sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment until death in the RG Kar hospital doctor's rape and murder case. The state government is seeking the death penalty for Roy, the sole convict in the case, and has expressed dissatisfaction with the Sealdah court's verdict, which did not consider the crime "rarest of the rare." The court also ordered Roy to pay a Rs 50,000 fine and directed the state government to pay compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.
An Ayurveda practitioner-turned-criminal, 67-year-old Devender Sharma was convicted in multiple murder cases and was notorious for dumping his victims' bodies in the crocodile-infested waters of Hazara Canal at Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh.
Raja Raghuvanshi's wife Sonam (25), allegedly involved in the murder of her husband, surrendered before the Nandganj Police Station in Ghazipur district in adjoining Uttar Pradesh and was later placed under arrest, according to the Meghalaya police.
Tensions flared in Delhi's Seelampur after residents protested the alleged murder of a 17-year-old boy. The boy, identified as Kunal, was allegedly stabbed on Thursday evening. Residents blocked roads and demanded justice, leading to heavy security deployment in the area.
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.
Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case who was initially reported missing in Meghalaya, apparently visited Indore after her husband was murdered and stayed in a rented flat for three days, a police official said on Tuesday.
A special court in India has sentenced a man to "triple death sentence" for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl last year. The court deemed the crime "rarest of rare" and declared the accused "extremely cruel and bestial." His mother and sister were also sentenced to two years in prison for helping to cover up the crime.
A Kolkata court has sentenced Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. The court rejected the prosecution's plea for the death penalty, stating that the case does not meet the criteria for being classified as "rarest of the rare." The judge emphasized that the measure of a civilised society lies in its capacity for reform and rehabilitation, not revenge.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Sealdah court's decision to award life imprisonment till death to Sanjay Roy, the sole convict in the rape-murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Banerjee said the incident was a "rare, heinous and sensitive crime" and she has been seeking capital punishment for Roy. She said the state government would challenge the verdict and move Calcutta High Court, which has granted permission to file an appeal against the Sealdah court order.
The Telangana High Court upheld a trial court's verdict handing out death penalty to five senior operatives of banned terror outfit, Indian Mujahideen, involved in a bomb blast that left 18 people killed in 2013. The court dismissed the criminal revision appeal filed by the IM operatives while upholding the NIA court's judgment. The five members, including IM co-founder Mohd Ahmed Sidibapa alias Yasin Bhatkal, Pakistani national Zia-ur-Rahman alias Waqas, Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, Tahaseen Akhtar alias Monu and Ajaz Shaikh, were convicted in 2016. The special court for NIA cases here awarded capital punishment to five convicts treating it as a rarest of the rare case. The high court, after conducting a detailed hearing in the appeals filed by the convicts, confirmed the death sentence of the five IM operatives.
A division bench comprising Justices Ashutosh Kumar and Jitendra Kumar disposed of the death reference moved by the state government on the order of a special National Investigation Agency court, and ruled that the four convicts shall serve "30 years in prison".
Asif allegedly knew the victim, Komal (22), for around 12 years, they said.
The court also directed the state to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased doctor.
A Delhi court reserved its order on the quantum of sentence against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a murder case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots for February 25. The complainant, whose husband and son were killed, sought the maximum punishment of death penalty for Kumar. The court on February 12 convicted Kumar for the offence and sought a report from Tihar jail on his psychiatric and psychological evaluation.
'Right now the daughters have not been made accused in the case. The matter is under investigation so it would not be appropriate for me to say that they are accused in the death of Maurya or not.'
Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar now faces a maximum of death penalty and a minimum of life term in prison after being convicted on Wednesday by a Delhi court in a murder case stemming from 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The court will also rule on Khan's appeal against the trial court verdict that said his offence fell under the "rarest of the rare category", warranting the maximum sentence and that he be "hanged by the neck" till death.
The CBI lawyer pleaded for the highest penalty for the convict, calling the crime "rarest of the rare".
Shahzadi Khan, currently imprisoned in Abu Dhabi's Al Wathba jail, has been sentenced to death by a court for the death of a child who was under her care.
Claiming that the investigation was done half-heartedly and several other culprits involved in the crime were shielded, they said they would move to the higher court seeking justice.
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.
Sajjan Kumar is currently lodged in Tihar jail.
The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday sought the death penalty for convicted Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, who had earlier pleaded guilty of all charges, including those under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in a terror funding case, court sources said.
'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.
An Indian woman sentenced to death in Abu Dhabi for the alleged murder of a four-month-old child has been executed on February 15, the Delhi High Court was informed on Monday. The woman, Shahzadi Khan, was handed over to the Abu Dhabi police on February 10, 2023 and sentenced to death on July 31, 2023. Her father, Shabbir Khan, had filed a petition seeking information about her well-being. The court was informed that the woman's last rites will be held on March 5.
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.
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