The Supreme Court on Monday asked Nithari killer Surendra Koli to reply to the Uttar Pradesh government which has blamed him for delaying his own execution.
The State government accused Koli of making repeated forays to courts for mercy and review of his death penalty, which finally led to the commutation of his death penalty to life imprisonment by the Allahabad High Court.
The State government is challenging the Allahabad High Court decision of January 28, 2015, to commute Koli’s death penalty to life imprisonment in the Rimpa Haldar murder — one of the several victims who were murdered and cannibalised in the Nithari serial killings.
The State government said the convict himself had “prevented his case from attaining finality” by persistent filing of petitions in court.
The High Court had held there was “avoidable and unnecessary” delay of three years and three months in disposing of Koli’s mercy petition. It further held that Koli suffered solitary confinement all this time.
The High Court’s decision came soon after the Supreme Court dismissed a review petition by Koli on October 28, 2014, after detailed open court hearings.
