Two Sisters From Maharashtra to be Hanged Soon: Sources

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New Delhi, August 14, 2014: Two sisters from Maharashtra, found guilty of kidnapping 13 children and killing five of them, are to be hanged soon, said government sources.

President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected the mercy petitions of Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit, who are lodged at Pune’s Yerwada Jail.

The Maharashtra Home Department had written to jail officials asking them to inform the convicts of the President’s decision. A "buffer period" of 14 days which is the time granted to inform prisoners, their families and jail officials about an impending execution expires today.

The sisters, who belong to Kolhapur in Maharashtra, were sentenced to death in 2001 by a lower court for killing several children in the 90s, who they allegedly abducted and forced into begging. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2006.

Their petitions seeking clemency were filed with the President’s office in 2001. The Supreme Court ruled in February that lengthy delays in deciding mercy petitions are grounds for commuting a death sentence. Their advocate Manik Mulik confirmed to NDTV that they will move the Supreme Court seeking leniency on the same ground.

Courtesy: NDTV