INDIA: SUPREME COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE IN SURAT

a three judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Ramesh Chandubhai Rathod to life imprisonment. He was convicted of the 1999 rape and murder of a 10-year-old who lived at Sanudip Apartment in Rander, Surat, where Rathod was the watchman. He was sentenced to death by a Surat Court and this was upheld by the Gujarat high court. The three judge bench of Justice Harjit Singh Bedi, Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Chandramauli KR Prasad observed that there is a very thin line of facts which separates capital sentence from a life sentence in this case.