M A I N   N E W S

US court gives Sodhi’s killer death

New York, October 10
A 44-year-old American convicted of killing a Sikh from Punjab four days after the September 11 terror strikes was today sentenced by a court in Arizona where execution is carried out by lethal injection.

Balbir Singh Sodhi, 49, who had migrated to USA in 1988, was shot dead outside his petrol station in Mesa on September 15, 2001, by Frank Silva Roque who mistook him to be an Arab.

A jury in Phoenix, Arizona, which convicted Roque, 44, of first degree murder after six hours of deliberations last week, also found that special circumstances exist under the State law which warrants death penalty for him.

An appeal is mandatory in cases of death sentence. In Arizona, execution is by lethal injection.

Eyewitnesses said Roque, who is on powerful anti-psychotic drugs, showed no emotion when the verdict was read out.

Prosecutors argued that Sodhi’s murder was fuelled by racism and hate and carried out by a man with a longtime drinking problem. Defence team, meanwhile, said that Roque suffered from mental illness and the terrorist attacks had triggered an episode of insanity.

The jury had rejected the insanity plea put forward by the defence and had begun considering whether he should be sentenced to death on Tuesday after hearing from a psychiatrist and family of Sodhi.

Sodhi’s brother Lakhwinder Singh Sodhi said he was relieved that more than two years of waiting were over and that his brother’s killer would not go unpunished.

“The jury brought justice back to our family. They came with the verdict of the truth. We showed the whole world this is the country of justice.”

Chairman of the Sikh Council Rajwant Singh said We are quite satisfied that justice has been done though the suffering and the loss suffered by the Sodhi family cannot be compensated for... The ruling has given a very strong signal that hate crimes cannot be tolerated in the American society.”

NEW DELHI: Sikh leaders and bureaucrats on Friday that said the death sentence to Sodhi’s, murderer would serve as a deterrent to crimes against the minorities.

“The death sentence to Roque will send a powerful message across the world that there is no place in any civilised society for showing disrespect to the lives of religious minorities,’’ National Commission for Minorities Chairman Tarlochan Singh said after a Phoenix court awarded capital punishment to Sodhi’s killer.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Delhi unit chief Avtar Singh Hit, newly-elected DSGMC president Prehlad Singh Chandhok said they were greatly relieved with the verdict. —PTI, UNI