The decision will be delivered by a panel of judges, including Justices Siddharth Mridul and Amit Sharma.
Additionally, the court will also make a determination regarding Khan’s appeal challenging the trial court’s verdict, which deemed his offense to be in the “rarest of the rare category,” thus justifying the maximum punishment of “hanging by the neck” until death.
In August, the bench had deferred its decision on this matter after both the convict’s lawyers and the State completed their presentations.
Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell lost his life in the confrontation between the police and terrorists in the Jamia Nagar area of south Delhi on September 19, 2008.
This encounter occurred shortly after a series of five coordinated bomb explosions shook the nation’s capital, claiming the lives of 39 individuals and injuring 159 others.
During the encounter, two terrorists were also killed.
Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma led the raid in pursuit of the terrorists responsible for the bombings.
On March 8, 2021, the trial court pronounced Khan guilty, establishing that he and his associates were responsible for the murder of the police official and had fired gunshots at him.
On March 15, 2021, the trial court handed down the death penalty to Khan and additionally imposed a fine of Rs 11 lakh on him. It specifically directed that Rs 10 lakh from this fine should be promptly transferred to the family members of Inspector Sharma.
Following this, the High Court received a formal request for the confirmation of Khan’s death sentence.
When a trial court sentences an individual to death, the judgment is subject to review by the high court. This review process involves hearing arguments and evidence to determine whether the death sentence should be confirmed.
In its verdict, the trial court characterized Khan’s action of firing upon a police party without any provocation as “abhorrent and brutal.”
It emphasized that this act alone demonstrated that Khan was not only a danger to society but also an adversary of the State.
The trial court, in its judgment, had expressed that the convict, due to his reprehensible actions, had forfeited his right to life. It determined that the offense for which Khan was found guilty was not a typical crime but a crime against the State. During the commission of this act, the court viewed Khan as a “dreaded and well-trained terrorist” and concluded that he did not merit any leniency.
Khan had fled the scene of the crime and was declared a proclaimed offender. He was eventually apprehended on February 14, 2018.
With agency inputs
Watch Batla House verdict: Court holds Ariz Khan guilty; sentence to be pronounced on March 10
