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U.S. | Execution by nitrogen hypoxia doesn’t seem headed for widespread adoption as bills fall short and nitrogen producers object

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The day after Alabama carried out the first-known US execution using nitrogen gas, its attorney general sent a clear message to death penalty states that might want to follow suit: “Alabama has done it, and now so can you.” Indeed, in the weeks immediately following the January execution of Kenneth Smith, it appeared a handful of states were listening, introducing bills that would adopt the method known as nitrogen hypoxia or a similar one. Officials behind each framed the legislation as an alternative method that could help resume executions where they had long been stalled.

India | Laila Khan murder: Actor's stepfather gets death penalty in 'rarest of rare case'

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Parvez Tak, stepfather of Bollywood actor Laila Khan, has been awarded the death penalty for the murder of the actor, her mother and four siblings in 2011.

The Mumbai sessions court on Friday sentenced Parvez Tak to death for the murder of his stepdaughter and Bollywood actor Laila Khan, her mother and four siblings in 2011. 

Parvez Tak was held guilty by the court on May 9 for murder and destruction of evidence.

On Friday, Judge SB Pawar said that the case did fall under the category of rarest of rare and on the charge of murder, Tak was given the death penalty. A seven-year rigorous imprisonment was handed out by the court for destruction of evidence. A fine of Rs 10,000 has also been imposed.

The death sentence will have to be confirmed by the Bombay High Court.

Laila, her mother Selina and four siblings were killed at their bungalow in Maharashtra's Igatpuri in February 2011 by Parvez Tak. Tak killed his wife Selina first after an argument over properties that belonged to her. He then killed Laila and her four siblings.

The prosecution case was that Tak had felt that Selina and her family treated him like a servant. He feared that she would abandon him in India while relocating to Dubai.

The killings came to light a few months later when Tak was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police as he had some criminal antecedents.

The victims' decomposed bodies were recovered later from a farm house in Igatpuri that belonged to Laila Khan's family. The prosecution had examined 40 witnesses against Tak in all these years.

Public prosecutor Pankaj Chavan had sought the death penalty in the case. 

Chavan submitted that it was a planned murder where six people in a family were killed in a brutal violent act and their bodies were disposed off.

After the court had found Tak guilty, he himself sought time from court to discuss the arguments with his lawyer. However, Judge Pawar had said that the accused had been accommodated and had been granted substantial time. Tak had prayed for leniency as he had a family to look after.

Source: India Today, Staff, May 24, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
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