The West Bengal Legislative Assembly unanimously passed the ‘Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment) 2024’, providing for a mandatory death penalty for the crime of rape and murder, on Tuesday.
India said it was exploring all legal options and would take up the verdict with the authorities concerned.
"I want Atiq's empire to end, I don't want him to be alive. I urge the court to give him a death sentence," Umesh Pal's widow Jaya Pal said.
"The whole family is horrified by Nikki's murder and there is silence in the streets of Khedi village of Jhajjar. I urge PM Modi to hang the killer of the daughter," Nikki's uncle Praveen Yadav said.
A Lucknow-based special court of NIA-ATS held Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi guilty on Friday last and pronounced the quantum of punishment on Monday.
Mukesh Singh on Monday moved a court in Delhi seeking quashing of death penalty, claiming he was not in Delhi on the date of the crime and further alleged that he was tortured inside the Tihar jail.
The proposed new law has been named the Andhra Pradesh Disha Act Criminal Law (AP Amendment) Act, 2019 as a tribute to the veterinary doctor who was raped and murdered recently in neighbouring Telangana.
The Delhi court said it will wait to pass its order on the issuance of death warrants against the four people convicted in the case till the Supreme Court hearing on the review petition of one of the convicts.
Earlier on Sunday, the Delhi government had 'strongly recommended' the rejection of the mercy petition filed by convict Vinay Sharma.
Speaking on rising crimes against women in the country, Kejriwal said 'it is a failure of law and order, and enforcement'.
