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concern Death Penalty
16-year-old boy’s killers seek mercy |
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477 on death row, 14 pleas with Prez
‘Darling’ daughter, who clubbed 8 of her family to death
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Forever hanging 26/11 attacker Ajmal Kasab’s hanging has revived the debate on the death penalty in India, which recently joined 39 countries to oppose a UN resolution against it. The last execution in India took place in 2004; how real is the provision for death sentence in the country today? By Ajay Banerjee
Cases of Afzal Guru and Rajoana, on the list of 14 pending mercy petitions, have become a matter of political comment, even opportunism with opinions being sharply divided. Since peace in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir is fragile, the Chief Ministers of both states fear security-related repercussions arising out of the hangings and have been praying that the death sentences be commuted. The three persons involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi were given a reprieve by former President Pratibha Patil by commuting their death sentence. This only made the demands shriller. Pratibha Patil rejected Bhullar’s mercy plea in May 2011 and Sikh bodies backed his family in moving the Supreme Court. Rajoana was to be hanged on May 31, 2012, for assassinating Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in August 1995. Just three days before he was to be executed, President Patil accepted a clemency petition filed by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. She returned Rajoana’s mercy plea to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for review. The MHA stayed his execution till the order of the Supreme Court or the President, whichever is later. The mercy plea is still with the MHA. Badal’s move had the open support of the Punjab Congress, Akal Takht (temporal seat of the Sikhs), the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC). Congress MLA and Beant Singh’s grandson, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, had said: “The family has no objection to Rajoana being granted clemency. Our concern is that the hard-earned peace in Punjab should not be disturbed.” The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, Capt Amarinder Singh, “appreciated and endorsed” the stand taken by Beant Singh’s family. Afzal Guru Last year when the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution seeking mercy for the assassins of Rajiv Gandhi, Omar Abdullah had tweeted saying if the J&K Assembly had passed a resolution against the death sentence to Afzal Guru, the reaction would not have been as muted. He feared that the hanging could revive militancy. He even referred to the hanging of Maqbool Bhat in 1984 and questioned why was it wrong to ask for clemency for Afzal if other states can seek the same for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins and Davinder Pal Bhullar.
The politics of it The politics of mercy petitions was given a new meaning by the Tamil Nadu Assembly in August 2011, when a resolution was adopted, recommending commutation of the death sentence awarded to Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan for assassinating Rajiv Gandhi. The resolution, moved by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, urged the President to consider the Tamil sentiment and views of political leaders and commute their death sentence. Barring the Congress, members of all parties supported it. The then President, Pratibha Patil, commuted the death sentence. Davinder Pal Bhullar Bhullar was awarded death penalty for triggering a bomb blast in Delhi in September 1993, killing nine persons. The Supreme Court had, in March 2002, dismissed his appeal against the sentence awarded by the trial court and endorsed by the Delhi High Court. The apex court rejected a curative petition in March 2003. Bhullar filed a mercy petition before the President in January 2003, which was rejected by Pratibha Patil on May 25. On hearing his family’s plea, the Supreme Court questioned the
government if it had taken into consideration factors such as his conduct in jail and if he had reformed himself
during that time.
Rules
of mercy
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16-year-old boy’s killers seek mercy
The most sensational case, which is likely to come into focus next, is that of 16-year-old Abhi Verma, son of a Hoshiarpur jeweller, who was kidnapped and killed by the husband of his tutor with the help of an accomplice. A court had issued death warrants against Jasbir Singh and Vikram Walia for October 9 this year after the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2010. The court refused to stay the sentence when it was revealed that the plan to murder the child was discussed in front of him. The court commuted the death penalty of Jasvir’s wife. The duo has filed a mercy petition. Four other convicts from Amritsar, Piara Singh and his sons Sarabjit, Satnam and Gurdev, were pardoned by former President Pratibha Patil in June this year.
Last hanging in Punjab
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477 on death row, 14 pleas with Prez
Even
as rights activists debate death penalty, 477 convicts, including 12 women, are on death row in the country. The definition of “rarest of rare”, under which death penalty is accorded, is being studied by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). As many as 117 convicts were added to the list in 2011, as per the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). They are awaiting endorsement or remittance of their sentence from the courts and are separate from the 14 cases of mercy pleas with the President. In July, within weeks of Pranab Mukherjee assuming office as President, 14 former judges signed an appeal, seeking his intervention to commute the death sentences of 13 convicts. They said the 13 convicts had been erroneously awarded death sentence and the Supreme Court admitted these were contrary to the dictum of the “rarest of rare” category. The also appeal said Ravji Rao and Surja Ram from Rajasthan were wrongly executed in 1996 and 1997. The matter is being studied by the MHA. Before Ajmal Kasab was hanged on November 21, the last execution in the country was in 2004 when Dhanajaya Chatterjee was sent to the gallows. On November 19, just two days before Kasab was hanged, India joined 39 countries to oppose a UN resolution against death penalty. Former President Pratibha Patil created a record of sorts by commuting death sentences of 35 persons. Between 1981 and May this year, 81 convicts sought commutation. Of these, 31 petitions were accepted, out of which her tenure saw the maximum pardons. Her predecessor Dr APJ Abdul Kalam received 25 petitions, of which he cleared two — rejecting one and commuting the other. President KR Narayanan disposed only one of the 10 petitions sent to him. Element of subjectivity The argument against death penalty got a fillip when Justice GS Singhvi of the Supreme Court, while hearing the case of Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, asked if the government had assessed any reform in Bhullar since 1993. He stated: “Even Chambal dacoits have reformed. Phoolan Devi reformed and became a Member of Parliament. Huge element of subjectivity is involved in the decision to take away the biggest gift of nature — human life”. A total of 14 mercy petitions await a decision. These broadly fall under three categories: The President has returned the files of nine cases to the MHA for an opinion; another two cases are pending with the MHA; and two more are pending with the President. The return of the cases to the MHA is procedural. Whenever a new Home Minister takes over, the President sends the petitions for a fresh opinion. Sushil Kumar Shinde took over as the Home Minister on August 1. The opinions on petitions were given by his predecessor P Chidambaram. The President seeks to confirm with Shinde if he agrees with the previous assessment. 1
Afzal Guru
Got death penalty in the Parliament attack case in 2001. His mercy plea has been sent by the President to the Union Home Minister for review. 2
Balwant Singh Rajoana
Was to be hanged in May 2012 for assassinating the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal filed a clemency plea, which was accepted. Rajoana’s plea was returned to the MHA for review. 3
Gurmeet Singh
He massacred 13 members of his family in 1986 in Pilibhit, UP, earning him the sobriquet “Terah Quatliya”. In 2005, the Supreme Court said he deserved no leniency. He filed mercy petitions in 2007 and 2009, which were sent to the President. 4
Dharampal
His mercy petition is pending since 2000. Lodged in an Ambala jail, he was awarded death sentence in a case of rape and killing five family members of the victim in 1991. He was out on bail in 1993, when he killed five members of the girl’s family. 5
Suresh and Ramji
They were sentenced to death in 2001 for killing five persons, including three children. The Supreme Court upheld the verdict in 2001. The duo filed mercy petitions in 2002, which were rejected. The petition was submitted again in June 2005. 6
Simon, Ghanaprakash, Madaiah and Bilavandra
Former associates of slain forest brigand Veerappan, they are on death row since 2004. They hurled a bomb at a bus ferrying police and forest staff, killing 22 persons. A TADA court sentenced them to life imprisonment. In January 2004, the Supreme Court converted the sentence to death. Their mercy petitions were submitted in May 2005. 7
Praveen Kumar
On death row since 2003 for killing four of his family in Mangalore in 1994. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence in 2003. His mercy plea was submitted to the President in September 2005. 8
Jafar Ali
A resident of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, Jafar Ali was sentenced to death in 2004 for killing his wife and five daughters in 2002. His mercy petition is pending since 2006. 9
Sonia and Sanjeev
Sonia, daughter of a former Haryana MLA Relu Ram Punia, along with her husband Sanjeev, drugged and killed eight of her family in Hisar in 2001. Her parents were among the victims. The duo was awarded death by the trial court, which was commuted to life by the High Court. The apex court reinstated the death sentence in 2007. 10
Sunder Singh
He burnt five members of his family alive in 1989 in Almora. In 2010, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty awarded to him. 11
Magan Lal
In June 2010, he hacked his five minor daughters to death following a property dispute with his two wives in Madhya Pradesh. His mercy plea is with the Ministry of Home Affairs and is yet to be sent to the President. 12
BA Umesh Reddy
Serial rapist Reddy, a former Karnataka Police constable, is facing trial in 15 rape cases. He was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a widow in February 1998. In February 2011, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence. His case is also with the MHA. 13
Saibanna
He is on death row since 2005 for murdering his second wife and minor daughter in Karnataka. He had also killed his first wife. The trial court awarded him the death sentence, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2005. His mercy petition was filed with the President in 2007 and is pending. 14
Atbir
In August 2010, the Supreme Court upheld his death penalty for killing his stepmother and her two children in January 1996. His mercy petition is pending with the President. —
Ajay Banerjee
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‘Darling’ daughter, who clubbed 8 of her family to death The most-sensational case of a convict on death row from Haryana, whose mercy petition is pending with the President, is that of 31-year-old Sonia Chaudhary and her husband Sanjiv Kumar. They were sentenced to death for the gruesome murder of eight members of Sonia’s family spanning three generations, including her father, former MLA Relu Ram Punia.
Ironically, Sonia was her father’s darling. A taekwondo champion and alumna of the prestigious Vidya Devi Jindal School, Sonia chose her 19th birthday (August 23, 2001) to commit the “rarest of the rare” crime at the sprawling farmhouse of her father at Litani Mor in Hisar. Those bludgeoned to death in cold blood included her mother Krishna, sister Priyanka, stepbrother Sunil, his wife Shakuntala and their three children — Lokesh (4), Shivani (2) and Preeti (45 days). Property worth crores of rupees belonging to Punia, an affluent businessman dealing in furnished oil and an Independent MLA from Barwala in 1996, is stated to be the reason behind the crime. Besides 200 acres of farmland, Punia was reported to have property in Delhi and Faridabad and a farmhouse in Hisar. Their initial plan was to shoot the family members when they gathered for her birthday celebrations. But Sanjiv reportedly panicked at the last minute. They then planned to drug the family and kill them it with an iron rod while they slept. The carnage reportedly stretched for over four hours, with the duo taking turns. Acting on a petition filed by Punia’s brother, Ram Singh Punia, the District and Sessions Court, Hisar, awarded death penalty to the duo on May 31, 2004. However, they moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which converted the death penalty into life term on April 12, 2005, citing repentance. On February 15, 2007, the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty. Lodged at the Central Jail, Ambala, they are awaiting a decision on their mercy petition by President Pranab Mukherjee. The couple has a 14-year-old son who lives with his grandparents at Saharanpur in UP.
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Since
Balwant Singh Rajoana
His case is among those sent by President Pranab Mukherjee to Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for review. Convicted of his role in the Parliament attack case (2001), Afzal’s case is the classic political ‘football’. Within hours of the hanging of Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab, the BJP demanded that Afzal Guru be hanged and Kashmiri groups retaliated. Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik dared the Centre to hang Afzal and National Conference (NC) general secretary Mustafa Kamal, uncle of J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, warned of “severe repercussions”. 
Just three months earlier in May 2011, Pratibha Patil had rejected the mercy petition of Davinder Pal Bhullar. Backed by Sikh organisations, his family moved the Supreme Court, pleading that capital punishment for Bhullar be commuted as there had been “inordinate” delay in deciding his mercy plea and he was not mentally sound. Prolonged incarceration awaiting his execution amounted to cruelty and violated his fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, the family said. 
Besides