The newspaper’s front page on April 8, 1979.Jasbir Singh alias Billa and Kuljit Singh alias Ranga were sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of Geeta Chopra, 17 and Sanjay Chopra, 15 Chopra on August 26 last year. The overcrowded courtroom cheered as soon as the additional district and sessions judge, M K Chawla, announced the death sentence. Shouts of “phansi ho gai” rang through the crowded corridors of the first floor court room as the message was passed from person to person till even the huge crowd collected outside the court was aware of it. Pronouncing the sentence, the judge said the “ends of Justice would only be met if the two accused are put to eternal sleep, thereby allowing the others in peace”.
Iran ex-PM shot
The former Iranian prime minister, Amir Abbas Hoveida, was executed by an Islamic firing squad in Teheran. An Islamic court found Hoveida guilty of all charges of being “a corrupt element on earth, responsible for spreading corruption, and treason to Iran”. The firing squad immediately carried out the death sentence after the revolutionary court passed its verdict. Hoveida, in his last defence, reportedly said he was “used as a front” by the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and requested forgiveness from all those prosecuted as political prisoners during his 13-year prime ministership.
Bhutto aftermath
One death was confirmed as rioting and arson to protest the hanging of former prime minister Z A Bhutto continued for the second day in Pakistan. Unconfirmed reports said two to four others might have died. The police appeared to have the situation under control in Islamabad but was pressed hard in Lahore. Rioters set fire to 17 vehicles, four gasoline stations and at least three public buildings. Disturbances were reported in more than a dozen neighbourhoods of Karachi.
