In this photograph takenon February 25, 2000, India's "Bandit Queen" turned parliamentarian Phoolan Devi sits in the main entrance of federal parliament in New Delhi, to protest against an alleged rise in police atrocities in the northern state of Uttar
Faced with the death sentence or a life term, Sher Singh Rana, the lone convict in the 2001 murder of bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi, today sought leniency from a Delhi court.
"You (judge) are sitting on the chair of God and what you say here comes directly from God's mouth," Rana told Additional Sessions Judge Bharat Parashar, seeking a pardon.
The judge, who said he would sentence Rana on Thursday next, told the convict, "You have been held guilty and you will get either the death penalty or life imprisonment."
Rana was convicted last week for murdering Phoolan at her residence in Delhi on July 25, 2001. He was about 22 then.
Today, the 35-year-old also told the judge that he wants to do something good for society.
Rana, tense throughout the court proceedings, said he is unmarried but has to look after his ailing mother. "My father died when I was in jail and I could not attend his last rites. My mother is ailing and she will get treatment only after I am released from jail," he pleaded in the jampacked courtroom.
The prosecution has said Rana is a threat to society and has sought the death penalty for him, contending that Phoolan Devi's murder, "Was committed in a pre-planned manner and was meticulously executed."
Phoolan Devi was the sitting Samajwadi Party MP from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh when she was gunned down by three men outside her Delhi home.
In her 37 years, she was a notorious bandit, surrendered dramatically, was jailed for 11 years and two years after being paroled became a politician and contested elections.