New Delhi: The Supreme Court has altered to
life imprisonment the death sentence of two convicts who
murdered five persons for ransom, considering the mitigating
factors that they were illiterate, come from poor economic
background and had already served 14 years in jail.
A bench of Justices P Sathasivam and H L Dattu said
though the prosecution had established beyond doubt the guilt
of two convicts, it would be appropriate if Mulla and Guddu
were sentenced to jail for the rest of their lives unless the
government in future commuted it for good behaviour.
"Life imprisonment is a rule and imposition of death
sentence is an exceptional one" and the same should come
within the purview of "rarest of rare category", Justice
Sathasivam writing the judgement said while quoting the apex
court's earlier rulings.
The victims Hari Kumar Tripathi, Nanhakey, Ram Kishore
alias Chottakey Naney, Chhotakkey and Ganga Dai--all
agricultural labourers--were abducted and knifed to death on
December 22, 1995, in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district by the
duo.
They were brutally killed by the duo with the aid of
certain other acquitted persons after they failed to pay a
ransom of Rs 10,000 each. The sessions court convicted and
sentenced Mulla and Guddu to death on April 30, 2005, and the
Allahabd High Court confirmed the death sentence, following
which they appealed in the apex court.
-PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 09, 2010, 00:46