[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 1


INDIA:

HC commutes death sentence to life term


When he was 24, Lahu Kumar had kidnapped and killed a 13-year-old school
boy, Amit Sonawane, in Punes Jejuri village in June 1999. The trial court
sent him to the gallows in 2001. But on Tuesday, the Bombay high court
reduced his punishment to life sentence on the grounds that it was not a
"rarest of rare" case.

Lahu Kumar, a daily wage polishwalla who has been in custody since 2001,
will however have to undergo 20 years imprisonment with no remissions and
furlough, held a division bench headed by Justice Hemant Gokhale which was
dealing with the death penalty confirmation case.

(source: The Times of India)