A trial court, which has sentenced two convicts in the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case to death, has sent the case file to the Delhi High Court for confirmation of the capital punishment.
Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav has sent the case record relating to the conviction and death sentence of Ravi Kapoor and Amit Shukla to the high court, court sources said.
It is mandatory for the trial court to refer a death penalty case to a high court for confirmation of sentence within 30 days of the pronouncement of the verdict.
Yadav had on July 14 held the duo guilty on various counts, including the murder of 28-year-old IT executive Jigisha Ghosh.
The court while sentending the two to death here on August 22, said the girl was killed in a “cold-blooded, inhuman and cruel manner” and “brutally mauled to death”.
It had said the magnitude and brutality exhibited by the convicts made the case ‘rarest of rare’, warranting capital punishment for Kapoor and Shukla. The third offender Baljeet Malik was given reprieve from the gallows for his good conduct in jail.
The two have not yet challenged the trial court judgement.
However, Malik through his counsel Amit Kumar, has moved the high court challenging his conviction and sentence of life imprisonment by the trial court.
Malik in his appeal, has stated that the trial court has “failed to appreciate that there has been contradictions and discrepancies in the depositions of the prosecution witnesses (PWs) and, therefore conviction and the sentence awarded to him is liable to be set aside”.
“The trial court has failed to appreciate that the prosecution has planted PW-2… as a last seen witness with intent to falsely proving the presence of the appellant in the company of deceased (Jigisha) at about 4.45 AM on March 18, 2009 at SBI ATM at Mahipalpur.
“The presence of PW-2, who has been falsely shown as a last seen witness, is extremely improbable and doubtful, and, therefore his deposition with regard to being last seen witness cannot be considered credible and probable evidence.” the appeal has said.
From Agencies, Feature image courtesy india.com
