The Supreme Court will hear the case again on October 16 (File)
The execution of a man guilty of murdering two young siblings in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore in 2010, set for Friday, has been stopped for now by the Supreme Court.
The execution of Manoharan was stopped by a three-judge bench headed by Justice RF Nariman after the convict's lawyer told the top court that she wanted to inspect the records of the case which are lying in the concerned trial court.
The bench, also consisting of justices Sanjeev Khanna and Surya Kant, made it clear that it was granting the last opportunity to the lawyer to argue the case on October 16 since it relates to death penalty.
Manoharan's lawyer told the Supreme Court that seven lawyers were changed in the case due to which the convict was not duly represented from trial court to the top court.
The convict, Manoharan, had approached the Supreme Court for a review of the court's order confirming death penalty.
In August this year, the Supreme Court, in a majority judgement of 2:1, had confirmed the death sentence of Manoharan for the rape of a 10-year-old girl and the double murder of the child and her seven-year-old brother in Coimbatore in 2009.
The majority decision had concluded that the convict showed no remorse for the crime, and categorized it as "rarest of rare category", deserving death penalty.
Manoharan, along with another convict Mohankrishnan had kidnapped the two siblings in October 2010, and then raped the girl. They were then killed by giving them milk laced with poison and thrown into a canal.
Mohankrishnan, who had masterminded the crime, was killed in an encounter with the police.
With inputs from PTI