Tandoor murder case hearing begins in Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Tuesday commenced hearing arguments in the infamous “tandoor” murder case of 1995, in which a plea has been filed by jailed former Youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma challenging his conviction and death sentence for murdering his wife Naina Sahni and trying to burn her body parts in a clay oven.
The arguments began before a bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, five years after Sharma filed the appeal against the Delhi high court judgment confirming the conviction and death penalty awarded to him for murdering his wife Naina on the suspicion that she was involved in an extra-marital affair. Sharma was convicted for murdering his wife and then disposing of her body by burning it in a tandoor.
Senior advocate Jaspal Singh started the arguments on behalf of the former Youth Congress leader.
The bench, also comprising justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Ranjan Gogoi, said it was a serious matter and all aspects of the case will be considered.
Sharma, in his petition filed in 2007, has contended that the high court has erroneously concluded that the offence committed by him falls under the rarest of rare category, warranting the capital punishment.
The high court, on February 19, 2007 had confirmed the death penalty awarded to him by the trial court saying the offence was an act of extreme depravity that shook the conscience of the society.
The Delhi high court had held that the reasoning given by the trial court for convicting and awarding death sentence to Sharma in the case was justified and he did not deserve any mercy for the gruesome killing.
The high court had rejected the mercy plea for reducing the death sentence into life imprisonment for Sharma. It had rejected his contention that the offence was committed on the spur of moment.
The trial court on November 7, 2003 had sentenced Sharma to death for killing his wife at their residence in Gole Market area in central Delhi on the intervening night of July 2-3, 1995.
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