SC stays death for convicts
New Delhi, Sept. 6: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the death sentence of the three men who were given death sentence for attacking Akshardham temple in Ahmedabad in 2002 and also sought Gujarat government’s response to a plea for a re-investigation by CBI or any other independent probe agency.
The sentence was stayed by the apex court bench of Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy and Justice S. Nijjar.
The court issued a notice to the Gujarat government on the appeal of Adambhai Sulemanbhai Ajmeri, Abdul Kayum alias Muftisaab Mohmedbhai and two others who alleged that IPS officer D. Vanzara, arrested in connection with the Sohrabuddin encounter case, had falsely implicated them in the September 22, 2002, attack on Akshardham temple in Ahmedabad.
Besides the three, the court stayed the life imprisonment of a convict and 10-year-imprisonment given to another.
According to the appeal, the matter needs to be re-investigated by the CBI or any other independent investigating agency as it involved the life and liberty of the citizen which cannot be left to the whims and caprice of the prosecution.
The petitioners submitted that the Gujarat police has not been able to establish the identity of the two fidayeens who were shot dead during the encounter.
On July 1, 2006, the Special Judge, POTA, Ahmedabad, convicted the four accused and awarded death sentence to two of them.
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