The Bombay High Court on Tuesday reserved judgement on petitions filed by two convicts after staying their execution for the rape and murder of a BPO employee in Pune in 2007.
A Division Bench of Justices B.P. Dharmadikari and Swapna Joshi was hearing two criminal petitions filed by Pradeep Kokade and Purshottam Borate seeking a stay on their execution scheduled to take place on June 24 in Pune. In November 2007, when the BPO employee was leaving work at night, Mr. Borate, the cab driver, along with his friend, Mr. Kokade, kidnapped, raped and murdered her.
They were convicted and sentenced to death in 2012. The HC and SC upheld the death penalty and their mercy petitions were rejected in 2016 by the Maharashtra Governor and the President in 2017.
Their plea in the HC said, “Excessive and unexplained delay of over four years in execution of the sentence of death causes unnecessary and unavoidable pain, suffering and mental torment that constitutes cruel and unusual punishment violative of Article 21 (right to life) of the Indian Constitution.”
Advocate Yug Chaudhry appearing for the convicts had told the high court there has been a delay in issuance of warrants for execution of the death penalty. He had said the Centre has declined to give them documents pertaining to recommendations made by officers in the Ministry of Home Affairs, on the basis of which the mercy petitions were rejected by President in 2017.
On June 21,the court had ruled the execution shall not take place on June 24, and directed the Union government to file an affidavit on if it was willing to give those documents.
