The Delhi High
Court on Monday allowed the suspension of life sentences of the four convicts
in the murder case of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. The court allowed
their plea for suspension of the sentence — bail till the pendency of the
appeal.
The lawyers of
the convicts — Baljeet Malik, Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla and Ajay Kumar — argued
that they have been behind bars for more than 14 years.
These four of the
five convicts in Vishwanathan's murder case were sentenced to life in prison in
November last year, while the fifth convict, Ajay Sethi, was given three years
in jail.
The court of
Additional Sessions judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey also imposed a fine of Rs
1,25,000 on all the convicts. The court had also ordered that of the total fine
amount imposed on the convicts, Rs 12,00,000 will be paid to the victim's
family.
Addressing the
demand for the death penalty to the accused, the court had noted that their
offence does not fall in the category of rarest of rare cases.