Hoshiarpur boy’s killers try last resort to save neck

Their death warrants are out. Vikram Walia and Jasvir Singh, who kidnapped and murdered a Hoshiarpur boy, Abhi Verma (16), in 2005, have moved the Supreme Court yet another time for a stay on their execution.

Their death warrants are out. Vikram Walia and Jasvir Singh, who kidnapped and murdered a Hoshiarpur boy, Abhi Verma (16), in 2005, have moved the Supreme Court yet another time for a stay on their execution.

A Hoshiarpur court has directed the Patiala jail authorities to hang them on October 25. The President has denied them mercy. Supreme Court lawyer Balwant Singh Billowria, who filed the latest review petition, will appear before the Chief Justice of India to request for an urgent hearing on Wednesday morning.

He has cited a constitutional-bench judgment in case of 2000 Red Fort bombing convict Mohammad Arif “that deathrow convicts shall seek opencourt hearings of their review petitions, irrespective of the fact that their curative petition has already been dismissed”.

In 2006, the Hoshiarpur district court had awarded death penalty to Jasvir’s wife, Sonia, too, and in 2008, the Punjab and Haryana high court had upheld it. In 2010, Supreme Court commuted only Sonia’s sentence to life imprisonment. Walia and Jasvir filed a mercy petition, which the President rejected.