More than two decades after former legislator Relu Ram Punia’s daughter Sonia and her husband Sanjiv Kumar were convicted of killing him and seven other members of the family, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered their release on interim bail pending decision on their premature release by the competent authority.

The order was based on two petitions filed by them, seeking the quashing of orders issued in 2023, rejecting their prayer for premature release. They were awarded the death penalty following the culmination of the trial in 2004. However, the high court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.

The Supreme Court, which reversed the finding, converted it back to death sentence, stating, “...Sonia, along with accused Sanjiv—her husband—has not only put an end to the live

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