India: 2 to hang for boy's murder, SC confirms death sentence for serial killer

2 to be hanged for Hoshiarpur boy's murder

Punjab's Department of Prisons will execute the death penalty awarded to Vikram Singh Walia and Jasvir Singh for the kidnap and murder of Hoshiarpur boy Abhi Verma.

Their plea for a lighter sentence was turned down by the President's office on September 27.

Along with a woman accomplice, the 2 had kidnapped Abhi, a goldsmith's son, for ransom in February 2005 and had later killed him.

"This is to authorise and require to carry the said sentence into execution causing the said ... to be hanged by neck until he be dead on 25th day of October 2016 at 9 am in your jail ... with an endorsement certifying that the sentence has been executed," reads an order issued by the District and Sessions court, Hoshiarpur.

The department now has to arrange for a hangman. It has none on its rolls. There have been no hangings in Punjab after June 16, 1989, when hangman Kaloo was called from the Tihar Jail to execute brothers Gurcharan Singh and Pritam Singh of Sangrur.

As per the Punjab Jail Manual, 1896, in the absence of an official hangman, the jail authorities can get a hangman from another jail or else the Deputy Jail Superintendent has to perform the task.

Source: tribuneindia.com, October 2, 2016

Supreme Court Confirms Death Penalty To Serial Killer BA Umesh

The Supreme Court on Monday confirmed death penalty to serial killer BA Umesh. The court's division bench dismissed his review petition.

The apex court said, "Dismissed his plea for review of death penalty."

Earlier Karnataka High Court had also confirmed BA Umesh's death penalty.

The former CRPF constable was arrested for the rape and murder of Jayashree Maradi Subbaiah, 37, and sentenced to death by a fast-track court in 2006.

His mercy plea was rejected by the President on May 12, 2013.

Source: News World India, October 3, 2016

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