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Supreme Court modifies death sentence to 20 years in jail

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 9. The Supreme Court has modified the death sentence imposed on two accused in a multiple murder case into life imprisonment on the ground that death sentence could be awarded only to those who could not be reformed or rehabilitated and if they constituted a continuing threat to society.

A three-Judge Bench, comprising Justice M.B. Shah, Justice B.P. Singh and Justice H.K. Sema, which also confirmed the life imprisonment awarded to the third accused, however, made it clear that the three accused "shall not be released before completing an actual term of 20 years (in jail) including the period already undergone by them.''

Disposing of an appeal filed by the three accused, two against the death sentence and one against life imprisonment, awarded by the High Court, the Bench said "there is no evidence to suggest that the appellants are a menace to society as evident by their past deeds.''

"We have a lurking suspicion that something must have happened on account of which the appellants resorted to the mass killing (a family of four, including father, mother, daughter and son-in-law). The evidence on record does not provide any clue.''

The appellants belonged to a middle class farmer's family for whom land had great value and there was nothing to suggest that they might repeat such barbarism in future so that they would constitute a continuing threat to society, the Bench said and added that the death sentence was not warranted in this case.

The accused, Ram Anup Singh, Babban Singh and Lallan Singh, caused the murder of the four-member family in March 1997 in a village in Bihar.

The trial court had awarded the capital punishment to all the three and the High Court confirmed it in respect of Babban Singh and Lallan Singha and awarded life imprisonment to Ram Anup.

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