Supreme Court orders states to expedite mercy petitions of death row convicts [Read Order]

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has told all States and its authorities to decide upon the mercy petitions filed by death row convicts at the earliest to avoid them from taking disadvantage of inordinate delay.

"If even after the final conclusion even upto this court, even, thereafter there is an inordinate delay in not deciding the mercy petition, the object and purpose of the death sentence would be frustrated," a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar said.

Therefore, all efforts should be made by the state government and the concerned authorities to see that the mercy petitions are decided and disposed of at the earliest, so that even the accused can also know his fate and even justice is also done to the victim, the bench added.

"We observe and direct all the States/appropriate authorities before whom the mercy petitions are to be filed and/or who are required to decide the mercy petitions against the death sentence, such mercy petitions are decided at the earliest so that the benefit of delay in not deciding the mercy petitions is not accrued to the accused, the bench said.

The bench directed to communicate this order to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories for necessary action.

The top court modified the Bombay High Court's judgement of January 18, 2022, by partly allowing an appeal filed by the Maharashtra government.

In the case, the High Court had commuted death of sentence of Renuka alias Rinku alias Ratan Kiran Shinde and others to life imprisonment.

The High Court had noted an inordinate and unexplained delay on the part of the State/Governor of the State for about seven years and 10 months in deciding the mercy plea of the accused and her sister, who were convicted of kidnapping and killing nine children in Kolhapur during the 1990s.

Appearing for the Maharashtra government, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati submitted even if the High Court was right in commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment due to inordinate delay in deciding the mercy petitions in view of SC's previous judgements in 'Jagdish Vs State of Madhya Pradesh' (2020) and others.

"The High Court ought to have considered gravity of the offence as the accused had killed nine persons and could have passed an order to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment for natural life without any remission," she said.

The court allowed the contention by the state government and modified the HC's judgement by directing that the accused would undergo life imprisonment for natural life and without any remission.

"It is true that the gravity of the offence can be a relevant consideration while commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment, however, inordinate delay in disposal of the mercy petitions can also be said to be a relevant consideration while commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment," the bench said.

[Read Order]