INDIA: SC DIVIDED ON SURAT RAPE AND MURDER CASE VERDICT

a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court pronounced a divided judgement in the 1999 rape and murder case of a 10-year-old girl in Surat, India. The Gujarat High Court pronounced the death sentence on Ramesh Rathod. While Justice Arijit Pasayat upheld the verdict, Justice Ashok Kulkarni adjudged that a life sentence would suffice. Both have dismissed the petitioner's plea and referred the case to chief justice for review by a larger bench.