President Pranab Mukherjee Rejects Mercy Petition of Woman

Haryana’s Sonia, daughter of Relu Ram Punia, former Haryana MLA, might become the first woman in India’s history to be hanged as President Pranab Mukherjee has rejected her mercy petition.

Sonia was convicted along with her husband Sanjeev in 2007 of killing eight members of her family, including her father, over a property dispute in 2001. They are currently lodged in Ambala jail.

Note
Nalini was awarded the death penalty for Rajiv Gandhi's assassination but her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on the intervention of Sonia Gandhi. 

President Pranab Mukherjee has also rejected the mercy petitions of -

• Gurmeet Singh (for killing 13 of his family members in 1986)
•  Jafar Ali (who murdered his wife and five daughters)
•  Suresh and Ramji (brothers who killed five of their relatives)and
• Dharampal, a rape convict from Haryana who later murdered five members of the victim’s family