January 9
CHINA:
Chinese court gives revenge killer death penalty
A man from Hanzhong, Shaanxi province, was sentenced to death on Tuesday for
killing 3 neighbors in revenge for his mother’s death, a local court said.
Zhang Koukou, 36, stabbed Wang Zixin and two of his sons, Wang Zhengjun and
Wang Xiaojun, to death on Feb 15 and then set fire to Wang Xiaojun’s car,
according to the Hanzhong Intermediate People’s Court.
Zhang was detained two days later when he turned himself in to police.
“The defendant committed the crimes of intentional homicide and property
destruction,” the court said. “Although he surrendered, we still decided not to
give him lenient punishment for his cruel behavior, which have had great
negative effects on society.”
Zhang said he was unhappy with the ruling and would appeal to a higher court.
The case aroused public attention after it was reported in the media that Zhang
acted in revenge for the death of his mother, who had been seriously injured
with a stick by Wang Zhengjun, the 3rd son of Wang’s family, during a quarrel
in August 1996.
4 months later, Wang Zhengjun, then 17, was sentenced to seven years in prison
for intentional injury and was ordered to pay more than 9,600 yuan ($1,510) in
compensation.
Standing trial on Tuesday, Zhang confessed that for two decades he never gave
up the idea of getting revenge for the attack on his mother.
“If Wang Zhengjun hadn’t beaten my mother, I wouldn’t have lost her. I was
dogged by her death over the years,” he said. “My mind went blank and I
couldn’t control myself when I saw the brothers on Feb 15 last year. They
reminded me of my mother’s death.”
Prosecutors said during the public hearing that Zhang followed the brothers as
they made their way home and used a knife to stab the two men several times.
He later went to the Wangs’ residence and killed the father, Wang Zixin, 70,
and set Wang Xiaojun’s car on fire with gasoline, prosecutors said.
“The defendant was upset and angry with the Wang family,” the court said in the
ruling, adding he committed the offenses with sufficient preparation.
Members of Zhang’s family said they had not been satisfied with the sentence
given to Wang Zhengjun more than 20 years ago.
Zhang Furu, the defendant’s father, added that it was the Wang family that let
the son, who was a minor, take the blame and get a lenient penalty because of
his age.
Zhang’s family had applied to the intermediate court and the provincial high
court last year for a retrial of the 1996 assault, but the application was
rejected.
(source:newsinfo.inquirer.net)
INDIA:
Mane's death penalty to life term
On January 25, 2012, Mane, a Maharashtra state transport driver, had hijacked a
bus and mowed down 9 persons.
The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday commuted to life imprisonment the death
sentence awarded to bus driver Santosh Mane, convicted for killing 9 people in
2012, by mowing them down in Pune.
On January 25, 2012, Mane, a Maharashtra state transport driver, had hijacked a
bus and mowed down nine persons.
He was awarded the death sentence in 2013 by a sessions court, which had termed
Mane's crime “rarest of rare”. Mane appealed the verdict in the Bombay High
Court but in September 2014, the Bombay HC upheld the death penalty. Mane's
laywer had urged to court to acquit his client of the murder charges because he
was “mentally unsound” when he committed the crime.
Mane's lawyers then approached the SC against conviction and argued that his
case be considered under provisions of Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code,
which grants immunity to a person who “commits a crime while being in a state
of unsound mind, thereby not knowing the nature of the act.”
(source: india.com)
*****************
Bill in LS for death under POCSO----20-yr jail for penetrative assault on
below-16 victims
The government today introduced a crucial Bill in the Lok Sabha to provide for
death penalty in cases of aggravated sexual assault on children and a minimum
of 20-year rigorous imprisonment for penetrative sexual assault on children
below 16 years.
The law defines aggravated sexual assault as assault by people in positions of
authority and trust like police personnel, soldiers, principals, heads of child
shelter homes, hospital staff, among others.
The new Bill amends The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act
2015 to enhance punishments for a range of sexual crimes against children and
empower the Centre to make rules to check pornography, besides providing for
higher prison sentences for convicts of pornography. The POCSO Amendment Bill
2019 for the first time talks about the need to provide for capital punishment
to deal with the rarest of rare crimes (aggravated assault) against children,
besides extending jail terms for all sections related to child sexual assault.
The most important amendment has been proposed to Section 9 of the 2015 POCSO
Act, which deals with aggravated sexual assault of children. As per the earlier
provisions, aggravated penetrative sexual assault could be punished with
rigorous imprisonment for not less than 10 years and extendable to jail for
life and fine.
The amended Bill, however, says aggravated penetrative sexual assault on
children shall be punished with not less than 20 years rigorous imprisonment,
which may be extended to imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s
natural life or with death and fine. While Section 9 of the original POCSO Act
provides protection to children displaced by communal and sectarian violence,
the amended Bill also covers children displaced and orphaned by natural
calamities.
The new Bill enhances punishment for child pornography from “up to 5 years and
fine” to “not less than 5 years”.
(source: tribuneindia.com)
PAKISTAN:
Man awarded death sentence for killing school student
An anti-terrorism court awarded death sentence to a killer for murdering a
school girl and injuring 3 others while opening indiscriminate firing on a
school van, a crime that triggered protests across Kotli Sattian last year.
The court also awarded 43 years of imprisonment to the killer besides imposing
fine of Rs1.7 million.
However, the co-accused of the killer was acquitted from the case on lack of
evidences.
The prosecution team confirmed the death sentence to the killer of school girl
while talking to media men on Tuesday.
Anti Terrorism Court (ATC)-1 Special Judge Asghar Khan awarded capital
punishment to main accused Kashif Javed alias Kashi and also imposed fine on
him while the 2nd accused Moheen Safdar was acquitted from the case.
The gruesome armed assault, that took place on April 14, 2018 in hilly area of
Kotli Sattian, involving Kashif Javed alias Kashi and Moheen Safdar, had left a
grade 10 student Areeba Qadeer dead on the spot and 3 other students namely
Haleema Iqbal, Ainman Nawaz and Esha Batool critically injured. Kotli Sattian
police had registered a case against the accused under the clauses of murder
and anti terrorism act.
The then Superintendent of Police (SP) Syed Ali along with his team had managed
to arrest the attackers during a raid in Kashmir.
According to details, ATC Number 1 Special Judge Asghar Khan took up murder
case when prosecution team led by Raja Sattar Ullah Advocate argued before the
court that Kashif and his friend Moheen had opened indiscriminate firing on a
school van carrying girl students when the driver of van tried to stop them
from teasing the students.
He added that the armed assault left one girl dead and injured 3 others. He
said that police registered case and held the killers who during investigation
confessed their crime. The prosecutor prayed to the court to award death
sentence to the accused.
Mirza Ansar Nawaz and Farooq Awan advocate, the defence, opposed the death
punishment to their clients. After completion of the arguments of the both
parties, ATC Number 1 Special Judge Asghar Khan awarded death sentence to
Kashif and 43 years imprisonment.
He was also ordered to pay Rs1.7 million as compensation to legal heirs of
deceased Areeba Qadeer.
Talking to media men, Raja Sattar Ullah, the prosecutor, said that his team had
brought the culprit to justice.
“The court completed the trial in record time and provided justice to victim
families,” he said.
(source: nation.com.pk)
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