INDIA: SC COMMUTES DEATH PENALTY OF 3 CONVICTS IN DHARMAPURI BUS BURNING CASE

The Supreme Court of India commuted the death penalty of three convicts into life imprisonments, who were involved in the torching of a bus at Dharmapuri in 2000, which led to the death of three college students died.
Dharmapuri case relates to the death of three students – Kokilavani, Gayathri and Hemalatha – of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, when the bus they were travelling in along with 44 other students and two teachers were torched by the three convicts among others.
The apex court Bench comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Prafulla C Pant commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment after hearing plea by Muniappan, Nedu alias Nedunchezhian and Maadhu alias Ravindran, seeking the recall of August 30, 2010, verdict  upholding their death sentence. “The incident happened in a flash during mob frenzy and is not pre-meditated. In this case, the convicts had not even know their victims and their crime did not deserve the death penalty,” the Bench said.
The Bench was hearing a review petition filed by the three convicts seeking reconsideration of the judgment dated August 30, 2010, which upheld both the trial court and Madras High Court verdicts. The apex court had stayed their execution in January 2011.