Source: hindustantimes.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday issued a notice to the \nCentral and state governments, after two men convicted for the rape and \nmurder of a Pune BPO employee in 2007 filed separate petitions seeking \nto halt their execution and commute their sentence to life imprisonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Purushottam\n Borate and Pradeep Kokade have contended that there was an inordinate \nand avoidable delay of 1,509 days in the execution of the sentence and \nthis is a violation of their fundamental rights. They approached the HC \nafter a sessions court, on April 10, issued the death warrant scheduling\n June 24 as the date of execution. The petition has been posted for \nfurther hearing on June 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the pleas, they had \nsubmitted mercy petitions to the governor on July 10, 2015, two weeks \nafter their death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court (SC). \nHowever, the petition was rejected 774 days later. There has been a \ndelay of 1,509 days in total, the petition claimed. They also claimed \nthey were illegally kept in solitary confinement at Yerawada Central \nJail for seven years. In his petition, Kokade said they were shifted to \nsolitary confinement by prison officials on the day of the conviction, \nviolating the Criminal Procedure Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The incident took place on \nNov 1, 2007, when the 22-year-old was on her way to work. Borate, who \nwas 26 at the time, worked as a cab driver for the company she was \nemployed with. He was to drop her to office. His friend, Kokate, who was\n 20 at the time, was also in the vehicle. The two men took her to a \nsecluded spot in Gahunje, 25 km from Pune, and raped and murdered her. \nThey were arrested the next day. On March 20, 2012 a Pune sessions court\n sentenced them to death. The HC \u2009upheld it.<\/p>\n