10 face death sentence for rape, murder in State

As the demand for capital punishment for the accused in the Delhi gang-rape is growing, the execution of death sentence in rape and murder cases seems to be a prolonged and time consuming process.

In Karnataka, 64 people were awarded death sentence in various cases. Of them 10 were awarded capital punishment for charges of rape and murder. Mercy petitions of three convicts are pending with the President while seven are before the Karnataka High Court. Some of those cases date back to 2001.

Shiva and Jadeswamy, who were arrested by Chamarajnagar police in connection with rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl on October 15, 2001, and the notorious psychopathic killer Umesh Reddy are the three who are waiting for clemency.

Besides, six others have questioned the judgment of the sessions court in the High Court. Erappa Siddappa Muruganna, who was convicted for raping and murdering a five-year-old girl on the pretext of buying biscuits for her in Khanapur of Naragund taluk on December 28, 2010, has questioned the Gadag district sessions court judgment in the High Court circuit bench in Dharwad.

Former Advocate General of the state B V Acharya opined that once the Supreme Court upholds death sentence, the formalities of mercy petition should be expedited. “The clemency process should be over within three months after the Supreme Court order. There is no point in keeping the petitions pending before the President. Even High Courts and the Supreme Court should speed up the trial of death sentence cases and pass judgements soon,” he said.

“My personal view is that life sentence without any remissions will be more stringent than a capital punishment,” he added.

Uday Holla, also a former Advocate General, feels the entire process of the trial in all courts and process of clemency should be hastened.

“The per-capita handling of cases by judges is also a reason for the delay. If the conviction process is expedited, an individual case would last long in public memory.”

He, however, opines that if death penalty is awarded to accused in each rape and murder case, the rate of conviction itself would come down in such cases.