'What did these men mean to the government? What does its support for these men say about this government?'
The Supreme Court on Monday quashed the Gujarat government's decision to grant remission to 11 convicts in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 riots in the state, saying the orders were "stereotyped" and passed without application of mind.
Mehta told Justice Suresh Kait that convict Pawan Gupta's move of not filing a curative or a mercy petition is a deliberate, calculated inaction.
The petition sought recording of calls, documents and reports by an investigating agency like CBI and to declare that the convict has legal and constitutional rights to approach any court at any time even in the last minute of hanging.
The judge passed the order on the plea by the convicts seeking adjournment of the executions 'sine die'. The four were scheduled to be hanged on February 1 at 6 am. This is for the second time that the execution of the death warrants has been deferred.
BJP leader Amit Shah in a poll rally last month had asked people of Ludhiana to send Ravneet Singh Bittu to Parliament, promising them that he will make him a 'bada aadmi' (a big man).
Jail officials said that after the death warrants were issued, the convicts were asked when they would like to meet their respective families for the last time, but none of them has responded yet. They are scheduled to be hanged on February 1.
"Why are our jails overcrowded? Why is the the policy of remission being applied selectively?"
The convicts can also avail the constitutional remedy of filing mercy pleas with the President.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah held Singh's plea as not maintainable saying that the review petition and the curative petition have both been dismissed in the case.
The MHA's plea sought a direction from the top court in fixing the deadline for filing of curative pleas after the rejection of review petitions. The MHA submitted that the top court should 'mandate all the competent courts, state governments, prison authorities in the country to issue death warrant of a convict within seven days of the rejection of his mercy petition.
A sessions court in Palanpur in Gujarat's Banaskantha district on Thursday sentenced former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in a 1996 case involving planting of drugs to frame a lawyer.
The order for Mohan's release follows the cabinet nod for amending the prison rules under which, previously, those involved in serious cases like the killing of a government servant could not be released even after the elapse of 14 years.
'The Mulayam government pressurised officials, IG-Range, DIG, and SP-STF were transferred, even I was made to resign within 15 days'
The Delhi high court on Thursday commuted to life term the death penalty awarded to Ariz Khan following his conviction in the sensational 2008 Batla House encounter in which decorated Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma lost his life.
Manjunath (27), a sales officer with Indian Oil Corporation and a graduate from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, paid with his life for exposing an alleged petrol adulteration racket.
Gautam Gambhir on Tuesday hailed the court's order, saying that 'India's daughter gets justice.'
Inspector Sharma of the Special Cell of Delhi was killed during the 2008 Batla House encounter in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi.
'Capital punishments have rarely acted as a deterrent. What we need to do is to make our society, our workplaces, our streets safe for women'
The four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case spent a restless and sleepless night. They were asked to take a bath but none of them did. All of them were served their last meal but one of them refused breakfast before being taken to the gallows, an official said.
Terming the petition as "highly adventurous" and against the fundamental principles of the law, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora said courts do not make policy decisions and that it is for Parliament to decide on such issues.
Kailash Dhobi is one of 11 persons convicted for murder and other offences, and is listed as accused number 1 by the SIT in the Gulberg society case in which 69 persons, including former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, were killed.
The accused involved in the kidnapping and killing of four members of an Indian-origin Sikh family, including a baby girl, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder, one for each life lost, authorities in California said.
The president had last month also rejected the clemency petition of another accused, Mukesh Singh.
The Buxar jail, the only prison in the state having the required knowhow, received an instruction to the effect last week
The Supreme Court on Monday held as nullity the May 13, 2022, judgment of another bench of the apex court, which had directed the Gujarat government to consider the remission applications of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of seven of her family members, saying it was obtained by "playing fraud on court".
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on Friday the Centre's appeal challenging the Delhi high court's verdict dismissing its plea against stay on the execution of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case.
Additional Session Judge Dharmender Rana issued notice to Tihar Jail authorities on the pleas moved of Akshay Singh and Pawan Kumar Gupta, directing the officials to file their response by March 2.
South African Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is set to be released from prison on parole in August after serving 10 months for culpable homicide in the killing of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a family member said.
However, hours after the high court order was pronounced, Akshay's mercy plea was rejected by the President on Wednesday evening. The mercy pleas of Mukesh and Vinay have already been rejected. Pawan is yet to seek that relief.
Justice Mukta Gupta granted a three-week parole to Santosh Kumar Singh, who is serving life term for the 1996 rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo, to appear for LLM examination.
On January 20, the apex court had rejected the plea by Pawan who had challenged the Delhi high court's order dismissing his juvenility claim.
Huma Qureshi's Rani Bharti was the ace in the pack, but everything that she does in this season smacks more of script conveniences than careful plotting, observes Deepa Gahlot.
'She had the courage to not cow down before the entire law and order apparatus, to remain sane and human despite inhuman suffering meted out to her and her family.'
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.
A curative petition is the last legal remedy available to a convict. In his plea, Vinay Sharma has said his young age has been erroneously rejected as a mitigating circumstance. The review pleas of all the convicts have been rejected by the SC and they're set to be hanged on January 22.
The Centre and the Delhi government challenged the trial court's January 31 order staying 'till further orders' the execution of all the four convicts in the case. The parents of the victim urged the court to expeditiously decide the Centre's plea and were assured by the judge that the order would be passed at the earliest.
The three men were accused of abducting, gangraping and brutally killing the woman in February 2012. Her mutilated body was found three days after she was abducted.
British national Kiaran Stapleton was found guilty of the murder of an Indian student Anuj Bidve on December 26.
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