The Allahabad High Court extended the stay on the execution of death sentence of Surinder Kohli, Nithari killing convict till January 9, 2015 on Monday. The court had earlier stayed the order till December 22 and now because of the lawyer strike in Allahabad High Court, the hearing did not take place and the court had to pass the order of further extension.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud and Justice Pradeep Kumar Singh Baghel hearing a PIL filed by People’s Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR) directed to hear this case on January 9, 2015.

The PIL challenged the orders of President and UP Governor rejecting the mercy petitions of Koli on the ground of excessive delay of three years and three months in deciding his mercy petitions.

On this ground, the PIL has sought commutation of the sentence of death to imprisonment for life. The PIL has further questioned the constitutionality of the execution of the sentence of death on the ground of delay on the part of the constitutional authorities and in disposing of the mercy petitions under Article 72 and Article 161 of the Constitution.

Surinder Koli has 11 cases of murder pending against him. The CBI had filed the chargesheet against him in 16 cases where he had allegedly killed children after sexually abusing them. Kohli was awarded death sentence by a lower court, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court on February 15, 2011, for the murder of Rimpa Halder in 2005.
Out of the 16 cases filed against Kohli, he has been awarded death sentence in five of them so far while the other cases are still under trial. Kohli is presently lodged at the Dasna jail at Ghaziabad.