SC to hear death row of Sonu Sardar, accused of killing five in 2004

The Supreme Court on Thursday will hear the appeal field by Sonu Sardar, who has been awarded death penalty for killing five persons of a family, including a woman and two children, during a dacoity bid in Chhattisgarh's Cher village in November 2004.

In November last year, the top court had asked Delhi High Court to decide on a plea of the Chhattisgarh Government challenging its jurisdiction to hear and grant a stay on the execution of Sonu.

The convict has been awarded death penalty by a trial court in Chhattisgarh, the decision was later upheld by the state high court and the Supreme Court as well.

The execution was stayed by the Delhi High Court on March 2, 2015. Challenging the decision, the state government told the apex court that Delhi High Court had no jurisdiction to stay the execution of convict Sonu Sardar as the offence had taken place in Chhattisgarh. The apex court had on September 2 sought response from the Centre on a plea of Chhattisgarh government challenging the jurisdiction of Delhi High Court.

It had also stayed the proceedings in the case pending before the Delhi High Court.

The state government had said that just because there was a delay in deciding on his mercy petition, it cannot be a ground for the matter to fall in the jurisdiction of Delhi High Court. It had also sought transfer of the matter from the Delhi High Court to Chhattisgarh High Court.