INDIA: DEATH PENALTY SET ASIDE DUE TO DENIAL OF FAIR TRIAL

the death sentence of Vasanta Dupare, 47, was set aside by justices Tahilramani and Tahaliyani of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court in India because he was “deprived of effective defense” by the trial court. When the state-appointed lawyer remained absent during cross-examination of four crucial witnesses, the trial judge made the accused, a labourer, do it. On September 29, 2010, an additional sessions judge in Nagpur sentenced Dupare to death for raping and murdering a girl, and his appeal was denied.