[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 15


INDIA:

44 convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bombings should get death sentence, say
prosecutors


At least 44 men convicted of conspiracy in the 1993 bombings in Mumbai
that killed 257 people should be hanged, prosecutors said on Thursday, the
last day of arguments on sentencing.

Chief public prosecutor N. Natarajan told a court that the men should
receive the death penalty because their conspiracy aimed to damage the
country.

"Conspiracy is a secret act in which damage is caused to the integrity and
sovereignty of the nation. They must be punished with the maximum
punishment," said Natarajan in his hour-long argument. "For terrorist
activities the maximum punishment is hanging."

Natarajan said that of the 100 people convicted for the series of
bombings, some 47 others, including two women, should be sentenced to life
in prison.

He said nine men convicted of flouting arms and customs laws, including
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, should receive jail terms of at least 10
years. Some 23 others have been acquitted in the case.

Dutt was convicted for unauthorized possession of 3 assault rifles and a
pistol supplied by another person accused in the bombings. He was
acquitted of the more serious charge of conspiracy.

Those convicted range from gangsters and smugglers to customs, police
officials and housewives, authorities said.

Last month defense lawyers had argued for shorter sentences.

Judge Pramod Kode is likely to announce the sentences within the next 2
months.

A bomb blasts tore through Mumbai in a 2-hour period on March 12, 1993.

Bombers had parked scooters, cars and jeeps packed with explosives at
Mumbai's stock exchange, cinemas, an office of the national carrier Air
India, gasoline stations, a passport office, crowded jewelry and cloth
markets and 2 hotels.

(source: Associated Press)

*****************

Supreme Court imposes death sentence on ex MLA's daughter


Supreme Court today imposed death sentence on Sonia, daughter of former
Haryana MLA Relu Ram Punia and her husband Sanjiv Kumar who murdered 7
members of their family including Punia over a property dispute in 2001.

A bench of Justices B.N. Aggarwal and P.P. Naolekar gave the death
sentence after setting aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court decision
reducing the death sentence given in May 2004 by a Faridabad trial court
in the case.

In a gruesome attack in 2001, RR Punia, his wife Krishna and five other
members of the family including 5 children were clubbed to death with iron
rods at their farmhouse in Litani village in Hissar.

Later, the police arrested Punia's daughter Sonia who confessed before a
magistrate that she killed her father and 7 other family members "in a fit
of anger" as she claimed that her father did not love her. Police had also
registered a case against her husband Sanjeev and some other members of
his family.

However in the controversial case, the court had discharged all members of
Sanjeev's family but held him and Sonia guilty of the killings.

(source: ANI)