AHMEDABAD, March 27: A high court in the western Indian state of Gujarat will study death sentences handed down to four Pakistani explosive smugglers by a lower court, lawyers said Saturday.
Last Thursday, a sessions court in Bhuj town in Gujarat sentenced the four to death for "waging war" against India after prosecutors said they were caught in 1999 with 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of RDX explosive and firearms that they intended to use to attack Indian targets.
India gives no figures on how many executions it carries out but the highest court has ruled the death penalty can only be applied in the "rarest of rare" cases.
The last known executions were of two bodyguards convicted of assassinating prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.
K.T Chaudhary, a state lawyer who defended the four, said the case documents would now go to the Gujarat High Court. "Death sentences have to be confirmed by the high court which will decide whether the sentence is correct," he said.
"Based on its investigation, the high court will then set aside, modify or annul the death sentence," he said. In addition, the men can also appeal to the Supreme Court and in the final instance apply for a presidential pardon.
The death sentences came amid a nascent peace process by nuclear-armed India and Pakistan aimed at ending their dispute over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, the trigger of two of their three wars.
The prosecution said the Pakistanis had smuggled in the explosives to attack targets in India, which is battling to suppress a 15-year-old revolt against New Delhi's rule in the northern Muslim-majority state of Kashmir. RDX is popular with Islamic militants in Indian Kashmir where security forces make regular seizures of the explosive.-AFP
