Rape-murder of techie: HC stays execution of two death row convicts

The Bombay high court on Friday stayed till further orders the execution of two death-row convicts in the 2007 gangrape and murder of a Pune BPO employee.

The two convicts — Purushottam Borate and Pradeep Kokade — were to be hanged to death at Pune’s Yerwada prison on June 24. They were awarded the death penalty by a court in Pune.

The duo had last month moved the high court for a stay on the execution of their death warrants on the ground that there was an “inordinate delay” in deciding their mercy petitions by the Maharashtra governor and the president.

They also cited a delay in issuance of the warrants for execution of the death penalty, which they want to be commuted to life imprisonment.

A division bench on Friday was informed by the convicts’ counsel, Yug Chaudhry, that the Centre has declined to hand over four documents pertaining to recommendations made by officers in the home ministry after which a report was sent to the president.

On the basis of this report and facts of the case, the president had rejected the convicts’ mercy petitions in May 2017.

According to Chaudhry, the Central Information Commission on June 16 this year directed the Centre to hand over the said documents to the applicants.

The court directed the Centre to file an affidavit stating whether it was willing to give those documents to the petitioners.

“The scheduled execution on June 24, 2019 shall not take place until further orders,” the judge said and posted the petitions for further hearing on June 25.