The Uttarakhand High Court has appointed an amicus curiae to assist in reviewing the death sentence handed down by a Haridwar court to a convicted murderer. On Wednesday, a bench comprising Chief Justice Guhanathan Narayanan and Justice Alok Mehra designated advocate Manisha Bhandari as the amicus curiae, instructing her to aid the court in evaluating the severity of the crime committed by the convict, Haider Ali, and the appropriateness of his sentence.

According to legal provisions, the death penalty can only be imposed for the 'rarest of rare' crimes, indicating that it applies solely to the most heinous and atrocious offenses.

On June 12, a sessions judge in Haridwar sentenced Ali to death for the murder of a woman. This ruling has been forwarded to the high court for confirmation.

As per a complaint filed by Dinesh, a resident of Haridwar, at the Ganganagar police station in the Roorkee tehsil, Ali had a history of harassing his sister and pressuring her to marry him. When she refused, Ali, accompanied by his friends, allegedly went to her home and decapitated her.