Allahabad HC commutes Nithari killer’s death after ‘delays’ by UP govt

In February 2009, a special CBI court in Ghaziabad awarded death sentence to Koli and Pandher.

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday commuted the death sentence of Surender Koli, convicted in the Nithari serial killings case, to life imprisonment, rapping the Uttar Pradesh government for the “inordinate and unexplained delay” in deciding his mercy petition.
The order was passed by a division bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P K S Baghel on a PIL filed by NGO People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), which was clubbed with the petition moved by Koli.

Both petitions had questioned the constitutionality of the execution of the death sentence in light of the fact that Koli has been in jail for more than seven years and that the time taken in deciding his mercy petition alone was “three years and three months”. This would be in violation of the Right to Life granted in Article 21 of the Constitution, the petitions said.

Coming down heavily on the state government, the High Court noted that of the three years and three months which elapsed in deciding Koli’s mercy petition, “as many as 26 months” were taken up by the Uttar Pradesh government itself, which was “unnecessary and unreasonable”. “Once the judgment is pronounced and the death penalty attains finality, the execution must be at the earliest without unreasonable delay,” the court said, adding “prolonged detention and the consequent wait for execution of death sentence is dehumanising for the person concerned and violates Article 21 of the Constitution”.

The court also turned down the argument of Advocate General Vijay Bahadur Singh that in view of the gravity of the offence committed, the court should not review the execution of the death sentence.

Lodged in Dasna Jail in Ghaziabad, Koli was arrested along with his employer Moninder Singh Pandher in 2006 after the police recovered skeletons of missing girls from a drain outside Pandher’s house in Noida. The CBI investigated the case and accused Pandher and Koli of the killings.

In February 2009, a special CBI court in Ghaziabad awarded death sentence to Koli and Pandher. An appeal was filed against the trial court judgment. The Allahabad High Court turned it down but acquitted Pandher. Koli went to the Supreme Court, which too rejected his appeal in 2011.

In May 2011, Koli filed for mercy before the UP Governor, which was rejected. His mercy was then forwarded to the President of India, which was rejected in July 2014. The UP Prison department had chosen Meerut Jail for Koli’s hanging on September 12, 2014, and he was even shifted to the jail on September 4. It was stayed as a recall application was filed in the Supreme Court and while it was rejected, a PIL was filed in the Allahabad HC. Koli was again sent back to Dasna Jail. With PTI inputs

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