Heena Sharma Blog

The execution of convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case will be the first time post Independence that four men are hanged to death together. Sixteen convicts have been executed in the country in the past three decades, including Yakub Memon, Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab. On February 9, 2013, Afzal Guru was executed in Tihar jail. Guru was convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack. No execution has taken place in Tihar since Guru. In 1989, former prime minister Indira Gandhi's assassin Satwant Singh and co-conspirator Kehar Singh were hanged in Tihar Jail. There has also been a dual hanging in the past, when Ranga and Billa were hanged together after they were convicted in the kidnapping and murder of siblings Geeta and Sanjay Chopra. Jasbir Singh alias Billa and Kuljeet Singh also known as Ranga Khus were hanged at Tihar Jail on 31 January 1982. Read More

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the issuance of black warrants for execution of death penalty by trial courts even before the expiry of 60-day time period for filing of appeal by convicts in the apex court. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde referred to the 2015 verdict of the apex court in which it was held that the death warrant cannot be issued before the expiry of 60-day mandatory period available to a convict for filing the appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court's judgement. "We want to know as to how such orders issuing black warrants are being passed by the trial court despite a reported judgement in this regard. "Someone has to explain this. The judicial process cannot be allowed to happen like this," the bench said. It also stayed the death warrant issued by a Gujarat sessions court against a convict Anil Surendra Singh Yadav in a rape and murder case. Read More

According to the new bill, there will be stringent punishment for rapists of girls under 12 Current Affairs News : The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2018, which will allowsthe death penalty to those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12. The bill seeks to replace an ordinance promulgated by the government in April after an outcry over the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu & Kashmir. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2018 was supported by most members across the political spectrum and passed by a voice vote, PTI reported. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said, "The stringent law was aimed at providing safety to minor girls." Here are few things you should know about the Bill: 1. According to the new bill, there will be stringent punishment for rapists of girls under 12. The punishment for rape of a woman aged under 12 years will be rigorous imprisonment of at least 20 year

Among the prisoners whose mercy petitions were rejected by the President of India, the median time spent in prison under trial was 16 years nine months Current Affairs News : On April 21, 2018, the Indian government passed an ordinance   allowing   death penalty   for the rape of children younger than 12 years. But is   capital punishment   an effective deterrent? Human rights bodies and the United Nations have argued that the death sentence is inhuman and cruel and should be abolished. In India, the   debate   was revived in the wake of the ordinance. Apart from the humanitarian argument, latest data also indicate that in India trial delays make the death sentence ineffective and result in protracted waits for the accused and their families. There were 371 prisoners on the death row in India by end December 2017 with the oldest case from 1991, 27 years ago, according to the   Death Penalty   in India report   published in January 2018. The number of dea