Gantela Vijayavardhana Rao, aged 25, Satuluri Chalapathi Rao, aged 24: The above are to be judicially executed on 18 December 1996, despite the fact that no decision has yet been taken on the mercy petition pending before the President of India. Both men are dalits (members of a socially and economically disadvantaged group determined by caste hierarchies) and there is concern that their trial may not have conformed to the standards set by the Indian courts, or by international human rights law.
