Granting relief to the two gallows-bound Kolhapur sisters Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit whose mercy petitions were recently rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday stayed their execution till the disposal of their petition seeking commutation of death sentence to life.
Invoking the powers vested with it under Article 226 of the Constitution to entertain the plea of the sisters whose death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on August 31, 2006 and mercy petitions were rejected by the President late last month, the High Court admitted the two sisters’ petition, saying that it was “maintainable”.
Staying the two Kolhapur sisters’ execution till the disposal of their petition by the court, a HC bench of Justices VM Kanade and PD Kode ruled: “Until such time, the death sentence would be kept in abeyance”.
The HC bench posted the next hearing of the case for September 9, after the State Government assured the court that it would not go ahead with the execution of the death sentence awarded to the two sisters till such time their plea was decided by the High Court.