SC dismisses review plea by death row convict

The supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a plea by a death row convict Sonu Sardar seeking recall of its Febr 23, 2012 verdict upholding his death sentence for "ruthlessly killing" five members of a scrap dealer's family in Chhatisgarh.

A bench of Justice Anil R. Dave, Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit dismissed the plea after holding a detailed hearing of the matter in the open court.

Sardar along with Ajay Singh and three more people had killed Shamim Akhtar, a scrap dealer and four members of his family.

The apex court Feb 23, 2012, while upholding Sardar's death sentence, had said: "Five members of a family including two minor children and the driver were ruthlessly killed by the use of a knife, an axe and an iron rod and with the help of four others. The crime was obviously committed after pre-meditation with absolutely no consideration for human lives and for money."

"Even though the appellant was young, his criminal propensities are beyond reform and he is a menace to the society. The trial court and the high court were therefore right in coming to the conclusion that this is one of those rarest of rare cases in which death sentence is the appropriate punishment," the court had said in its judgment.

Sardar's plea seeking the review of the court's Feb 23, 2012 order was taken up for an open court hearing following the apex court constitution bench's Sep 2, 2014 decision that in the cases where the death sentence has been upheld by the apex court, the death row convict will have a right that his petition seeking a review will be heard by the three judges bench in an open court.