The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of the death sentence of Ahmed Bawa @ Abbu Abubakar Barelvi, one of 38 convicts sentenced to death in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case, and issued notice to the State of Gujarat on his challenge to the Gujarat High Court’s July 2026 judgment confirming his conviction and sentence. His counsel argued that the conviction rests entirely on the allegation of conspiracy.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the conviction of a Ludhiana woman for abducting and murdering her neighbour’s granddaughter, aged under three, by burying her alive, but commuted her death sentence to 30 years’ rigorous imprisonment without remission, holding that she cannot be said to be beyond reform.
The Supreme Court has commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence imposed on a man convicted of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh. A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Vijay Bishnoi upheld the conviction but held the case did not warrant the death penalty, applying the ‘rarest of rare’ framework. The detailed reasons are awaited with the judgment.
A Pune court sentenced a 65-year-old man to death for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in Nasrapur village, calling it a crime that “shocks even the conscience of society.” The court held the case fell within the “rarest of rare” category after convicting him of kidnapping, molestation, rape, and murder.
