NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday said it will commence hearing on March 21 to examine the trial court verdict awarding death sentence to Ariz Khan for the murder of decorated Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma in connection with the sensational 2008 Batla House encounter case.
The high court said the reference received from the trial court will be heard along with the appeal filed by Ariz Khan against capital punishment.
When a trial court sentences any person to the death penalty in a case, its judgment is examined by the high court through hearing arguments for confirmation of the sentence. The case documents and trial court judgment reach as death reference to the high court from the trial court.
A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta said notice will also be sent to the convict informing him about the death reference proceedings. The court also directed the registry to provide the trial court records of the case and a copy of the death reference to the prosecutor, representing the state, as expeditiously as possible.
In July 2021, Ariz Khan filed an appeal against the trial court verdict which said the offense fell under the “rarest of the rare category” warranting the maximum sentence and he is “hanged by neck” till death.
Inspector Sharma of the Delhi Police’s special cell was killed during the 2008 Batla House encounter between the police and the terrorists in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi following serial bomb blasts in the national capital in which 39 people died and 159 were injured.
The trial court on March 8, 2021, convicted Khan saying that it was duly proved that he and his associates murdered the police official and fired gunshots at him.