Mahabub Subhani was given a death sentence by the Guntur...

Mahabub Subhani was given a death sentence by the Guntur district court for the murder of seventeen year-old-student Prasanna Lakshmi in her classroom on October 29, 1999. The Human Rights Forum (HRF) convener, Mr. B. Chandrasekhar, said Subhani was not accorded a fair trial since he did not have legal assistance at all stages of the trial. This was a breach of Articles 14 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is a signatory. The HRF always preferred a life term to the death penalty, he said.