Jigisha murder: HC issues production warrant to death row convicts

New Delhi, Sep 5: Delhi HC today issued production warrants to two death row convicts in the 2009 Jigisha Ghosh murder case on trial court reference for confirmation of capital punishment given to them.

A bench of justices Gita Mittal and R K Gauba directed Tihar Jail authorities here to produce convicts Ravi Kapoor and Amit Shukla before it on September 15.

The order came on submission of Delhi Police that the court could direct production of the convicts to know whether they are going to file an appeal against the trial court's judgement convicting and sentencing them in the case.

On August 22, while awarding capital punishment to Kapoor and Shukla, Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav had referred the case to high court for confirmation of sentence.

It is mandatory for the trial court to refer each death penalty case to a high court for confirmation of sentence within 30 days of the pronouncement of the verdict. The trial court had on July 14 held the duo guilty on various counts, including the murder of 28-year-old IT executive Jigisha Ghosh.

The court while sentencing the two to death said the girl was killed in a "cold-blooded, inhuman and cruel manner" and "brutally mauled to death". It had said the magnitude and brutality exhibited by the convicts made the case 'rarest of rare', warranting capital punishment for Kapoor and Shukla.

The third offender Baljeet Malik was given reprieve from the gallows and sent to life imprisonment for his good conduct in jail. Shukla has orally filed an appeal against the death sentence awarded to him while Malik has filed an appeal through counsel Amit Kumar in the high court challenging the conviction and sentence.

"Let all the appeals filed by the state and the convicts be heard together on September 15," the High Court said. Ravi Kapoor has not yet challenged trial court judgement.

Malik, in his appeal, has stated that the trial court "failed to appreciate that there have been contradictions and discrepancies in the depositions of the prosecution witnesses (PWs) and therefore conviction and sentence awarded to him is liable to be set aside".

"The trial court has failed to appreciate that prosecution has planted PW-2... as a last seen witness with intent to falsely proving the presence of the appellant in the company of deceased (Jigisha) at about 4.45 AM on March 18, 2009 at SBI ATM at Mahipalpur," the appeal said.

PTI