INDIA. DEATH FOR MAN CONVICTED OF BURNING WIFE AND KIDS

the Bombay High Court, India, upheld the death sentence handed by a trial court to Ajit Singh Gujral for burning his wife and three children in their Sher-e-Punjab flat in Andheri. Confirming the death penalty, the court held that Gujral, had showed no remorse or repentance for the brutal act. Stating that the act was a pre-planned one—Gujral had stocked petrol at home—the judges held that there were no mitigating circumstances, nor was there any provocation for the offence.
A Sessions Court had on March 19, 2005, sentenced Gujral to death for murdering his wife Kamaljit Kaur, 48, daughters Niti, 22, and Tanya, 13, and son Amandeep, 20, on April 10, 2003. According to prosecution, Gujral had shifted to Mumbai from Ludhiana in 2002, and was running a catering business in the city. He, however, became debt-ridden and often had bitter arguments with his family members over money matters. On that fateful day, he set his family members on fire in a fit of rage and fled the city.
The charred remains of the bodies were recovered from Gujrals’ bedroom. Police became suspicious when the servants revealed that the family had quarreled before the incident and they could not trace Gujral. He was later arrested from Ajmer in Rajasthan.