Friday, August 6, 2004
India set to hang first convict in 13 years
Reuters New Delhi, August 4
India is set to carry out its first hanging in 13 years after President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam rejected a plea for clemency from a man convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old schoolgirl in 1990.
Kalam took the decision late on Tuesday after weeks of consultations with legal experts over the fate of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was due to be hanged in June before his petition to the president, officials said.
Chatterjee was sentenced to death after he was convicted for the rape and murder of Hetal Parekh in 1990 in the eastern city of Calcutta.
His relatives, human rights groups and lawyers opposed to capital punishment have organised vigils and protests against the hanging, sparking a debate over the death penalty in India.
However, newspaper opinion polls have shown that a majority of residents in Calcutta, outraged by the crime, have supported the death penalty.
The appeal to the president is the final step for prisoners condemned to death. The West Bengal state government, where Chatterjee is in jail, will now set a new date for the execution.
Indian courts rarely award the death penalty and only about 40 people have been executed in the past 30 years.
Officials said there were more than a dozen convicts on death row across the country. But their sentences have not been carried out as their pleas for clemency are pending at several levels.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.