New Delhi: The Supreme Court yesterday stayed the hanging of a Madhya Pradesh man who was convicted for killing his five minor daughters in 2010.
The death sentence of Magan Lal, scheduled to be executed in the morning in a jail in his state, was stayed for a day at a Wednesday midnight hearing at the residence of Chief Justice P Sathasivam on a petition by civil rights group Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR).
At the midnight hearing, the chief justice also directed that the matter be brought before the court yesterday. When the plea came up for hearing, the bench of Chief Justice Sathasivam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai stayed Magan Lal’s execution till further orders.
PUDR told the court that it had on April 6 stayed the execution of six death row convicts after their mercy petitions were rejected. Magan Lal on June 11, 2010 murdered his five daughters — Jamuna, 1, Leela, 3, Aarta, 4, Savita, 5, and Phool Kunwar, 6, — and attempted suicide, police said.
He was sentenced to death on February 3, 2011 by the trial court and it was upheld by the Madhya Pradesh High court on September 12, 2011. His plea against the high court order was rejected by the Apex Court on January 9, 2012.
IANS
