Day before hanging, SC stays execution of two convicts
PATIALA: The execution of two death-row convicts, who were found guilty of kidnapping and killing a Hoshiarpur boy Abhi Verma in 2005, was stayed by the Supreme Court on Monday — a day before their hanging.
A special three-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, R Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan while hearing a petition for reviewing death sentences of Vikram Singh and Jasbir Singh stayed the execution while reserving the judgment.
The two were to be executed at 9 am on Tuesday and the Patiala central jail administration had made all arrangements and even brought a hangman from Uttar Pradesh. “We have received the court’s stay order and the execution has been put off,” said Bhupinderjeet Singh Virk, superintendent of Patiala central jail.
Talking to HT, the counsel of two accused Balwant Singh Billowria, who had filed the latest review petition, said he had pleaded that there is need to revisit the decision of death sentence as the trial court has overseen some evidences.
Abhi, 16, son of a goldsmith, was kidnapped and murdered by Jasbir Singh, his wife Sonia and her brother Vikram Walia in February 2005 for a ransom of `50 lakh. He died with an overdose of anaesthesia.
On December 21, 2006, the Hoshiarpur district and sessions judge had awarded death penalty to the three accused. The Punjab and Haryana high court had upheld the sentence but the Supreme Court had commuted Sonia’s sentence to life imprisonment. Jasvir and Vikram had filed a mercy petition with the President after a three-member bench of the apex court had rejected their review petition in August 2015.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has also deferred hearing of the convicts’ petition seeking commutation of their sentences to November 3.
PATIALA CENTRAL JAIL OFFICIALS HAD MADE ALL ARRANGEMENTS AND BROUGHT A HANGMAN FROM UP FOR EXECUTION