INDIA: KHAIRLANJI CONVICTS MOVE HC AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

those convicted in the Khairlanji case in India filed an appeal to the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court challenging their death penalty. The appeal will be heard with another petition regarding confirmation of death sentence of convicts. Ad-hoc Additional Sessions Judge S S Das of the Special Court of Bhandara found eight of the 11 accused guilty on September 24 of mercilessly killing Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange’s wife Surekha, daughter Priyanka and sons Sudhir and Roshan at Khairlanji village in Bhandara. Sakru Binjewar, Shatrughan Dhande, Vishwanath Dhande, Ramu Dhande, Jagdish Mandlekar, and Prabhakar Mandlekar were sentenced to death. According to Khandewale, they challenged the death penalty on the grounds that depositions by prosecution witnesses were full of ‘omissions and contradictions’. He also alleged that these witnesses were ‘tutored’ by the CBI.