17 May 2005 :

the High Court in New Delhi, India, commuted into life imprisonment the death penalty passed on Tika Ram for the 1994 murders of five members of the Sharmas family in the city's Vasant Kunj area. It held Ram guilty of the murders, but did not categorise the crime under the 'rarest of the rare' category making it eligible to capital punishment. Ram was 18 years old at the time of the crimes. Tika Ram was the family's domestic helper. Although police had claimed robbery was the motive, they admitted informally that Ram had avenged humiliation received at the family's hand after his employer apparently beat him up on knowing he had served food without her permission.   In the ruling, the judges observed that "something more had transpired" than what was revealed to the court. "There is an uncanny feeling something more must have happened which has not been told, persuading us that capital punishment is not warranted in this case," the judges said.
Ram’s good conduct during his custody in Tihar Jail also favoured with the judges, who held he could be reformed during the incarceration period of life imprisonment. They further held that there was no direct evidence against the accused, even though the police had recovered the stolen money from him. Another factor which restrained the judges from passing a death penalty was that Ram was young at the time of the crime.
"Nine years have passed and ever since Ram was apprehended, no adverse comments were given against his conduct," added the judges.