The HC also pulled up the lower court judge for awarding death penalty and said that in making choice of the sentence, in addition to the circumstances of the offence, due regard must be paid to the circumstances of the offender also. “It is clear that each case is different and the trial court, while considering the question of sentence, ought to be concerned about the facts and circumstances of the case before, and not with other cases having similar or similar-looking facts. The court is required to draw up a balance-sheet of aggravating and mitigating factors, if it contemplates the imposition of the extreme penalty,” the order read.

Griggs, a teacher, writer and learning consultant, arrived at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport from Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific flight around 2 am on the intervening night of March 16 and 17, 2004. She was found murdered in a field near the airport, hours after she had taken a pre-paid taxi from there. According to the chargesheet filed at the time, Prasad and Kumar had brutally murdered her and then tried to decamp with her belongings. A supplementary chargesheet accusing the two men of raping Grigg’s before killing her was filed 115 days after the murder.