The Supreme Court of India on Thursday reserved its judgment on the review petition filed by Amroha murder case convicts Shabnam and Saleem. Both have been convicted and sentenced to death for killing seven members of Shabnam's family in 2008.
During the hearing, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde raised questions about whether the conduct of a convict inside jail can be taken as "mitigating" circumstances for the commutation of the death penalty to life imprisonment. The three-judge bench also included Justices SA Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna.
The paramount court asked senior advocates Anand Grover and Meenakshi Arora whether it can consider the "good behaviour" of convicts post-conviction.
"Every criminal is said to have an innocent heart. However, we have to look into the crime committed as well," the bench observed.
The apex court had upheld their death sentence in 2015. In 2010, the Allahabad High Court had upheld the death sentence awarded to the duo by a sessions court.
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Saleem and Shabnam were having an affair and wanted to get married but their relationship met with stiff opposition from the woman's family. On April 15, 2008, Shabnam's entire family was murdered and the woman initially pretended that her house in Amroha district of UP was attacked by unidentified miscreants.
During the prob it was revealed that she had abetted Saleem in the crime as she made her family members drink milk laced with sedatives before the attack and thereafter herself chocked her little nephew.