The death sentence imposed on Ajit Seth, the Paschim...

The death sentence imposed on Ajit Seth, the Paschim Vihar resident who had burnt two small children alive, was commuted to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court.
Seth had killed six-year-old Sunny and three-year-old Shikha, son and daughter of Harish and Indu Arora, who were his neighbours in the locality. He committed the crime, on June 24, 1988, because he wanted to pursue a relationship with Indu.
He had been condemned to death in February 1999 by the Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) G.D. Dhanuka. The ASJ had then held that the commission of the crime in a diabolical and premeditated manner by Ajit Seth reflected his mental depravity.
When commuting his penalty, a division bench comprising Justice Usha Mehra and Justice Mahmood Ali Khan ruled that Ajit Seth was not to be released from prison before he had completed a term of 20 years. "We are of the view that even though it is a case where the appellant has committed a heinous and barbaric offence, still it is not the rarest of the rare cases," the division bench ruled.