INDIA: DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER ACCUSED RESERVED

the Bombay High Court in India reserved the order for the confirmation of death sentences awarded to three people in the 2004 Vasai murder case by the Palghar Sessions Court. Prabhu Nochil, his father Krishnan, his fourteen-year-old cousin Dirjid and one Abhay Raj were stabbed to death at Prabhu’s residence in the neighbouring Vasai by the assailants on the night of May 17, 2004. The police arrested Prabhu’s brother-in-law Dilip Tiwari, along with Manoj Paswan and Sunil Yadav, alleging Dilip resented his sister Sushama’s marriage to the ‘low caste’ Prabhu. Abhay Raj, who lived in the same neighbourhood, had helped Sushma and Prabhu marry. While the Tiwaris are north Indian Brahmins, Prabhu’s family belonged to Ezhava community in Kerala. The Palghar fast-track Sessions Court convicted Dilip, Manoj and Sunil, while acquitting Dilip’s parents.