Batla House encounter | Delhi High Court to hear convicts' pleas challenging death penalty, life term on September 22
The Hindu
While convict Ariz Khan was awarded the death penalty by a trial court, Shahzad Ahmed was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case
The Delhi High Court Thursday said it would hear on September 22 appeals by two convicts challenging the death sentence and life term awarded to them in the sensational 2008 Batla House encounter case in which decorated Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma lost his life.
While convict Ariz Khan was awarded the death penalty by a trial court, Shahzad Ahmed was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case. Both convicts have challenged their conviction and sentence in the case.
The high court has received a reference for confirmation of the death sentence awarded by the trial court to Ariz Khan for the murder of Sharma. It will also deal with the appeal of the State seeking enhancement of the life term awarded to Shahzad. At the request of the Delhi government, a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Amit Sharma adjourned the hearing in the matter for September 22.
The high court also directed its registry to provide electronic copies of the relevant documents to the counsel for the parties.
When a trial court sentences any person to the death penalty in a case, its judgement is examined by the high court through hearing arguments for confirmation of the death sentence. The case documents and trial court judgement reach as death reference to the high court from the trial court.
In July 2021, Ariz Khan filed an appeal against the trial court verdict which said the offence fell under the "rarest of the rare category" warranting the maximum sentence and he be "hanged by neck" till death.
Inspector Sharma of the Delhi Police's special cell was killed during the 2008 Batla House encounter between the police and the terrorists in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi following serial bomb blasts in the national capital in which 39 people died and 159 were injured.