JUDGMENT

Ganguly, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. These Criminal Appeals are preferred from the judgment of conviction under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter “IPC”) and the penalty of death sentence, delivered on 6th August, 2009 by the High Court of Delhi in Death Sentence Reference no. 2/2007 and Criminal Appeal no. 635/2007, whereby the High Court upheld the conviction and confirmed the penalty of the death sentence imposed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Rohini Court in Session Case No.178/06.

3. This Court had issued notice on the limited question of quantum of sentence. The facts and circumstances, which are relevant to these appeals, are as under.

4. According to the prosecution, the duty officer in the Police Control Room received a call from number 20056630 at 15:38 hours on 28.7.2003 informing him that a man had entered a house in Subhash Nagar and had assaulted two children and had locked the door of a room from inside. Another call was made to the Police Control Room from mobile No. 9810458303 noting that the informant had informed that a man had murdered two children inside House No. 2/129 Subhash Nagar near Arya Samaj Temple.

5. Each time the duty officer