INDIA: MERCY PLEAS DELAY COUPLE’S EXECUTION

a husband and wife on death row at the Ambala Central Jail in India had their execution stayed after filing a mercy petition with the President. Sonia and her husband Sanjiv were sentenced to death by the Supreme Court for the murder of eight family members, including former MLA Relu Ram Punia. The death sentence was to be carried out November 27, 2007. But the couple recently filed a mercy petition with the President, following which their appeal is pending. Both Sonia and Sanjiv are in solitary confinement since they are facing the death sentence. A jail official said the couple cannot leave their respective jail blocks. Even if some medical requirement arose, the doctor had to visit their block.