Supreme Court To Hear Union's Plea To Modify 'Shatrughan Chauhan' Judgment On Death Row Convicts' Mercy Petitions

The Supreme Court today(September 24) said that it will hear a modification application by the Union seeking further guidelines in the 2014 Shatrughan Chauhan judgment to make it more victim-centric.It may be recalled that the Union's modification application dates back to 2020 filed in the context of the pending execution of death warrants of the four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gangrape-murder case. The death warrants were only executed in 2020 after the Supreme Court rejected their final plea in a special sitting at midnight.In 2014, a three-judge bench laid down various guidelines for the protection of the rights of death row convicts and declared that long pendency in the disposal of a mercy petition is a ground to commute the death penalty to a life sentence. It also said that a 14-day period should be there between the intimation of the rejection of the mercy petition and the final execution, so that the death row convict can not just seek a remedy but also mentally prepare himself for the execution.Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj mentioned today before a bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta, and Justice NV Anjaria that the Union is seeking modification of the guidelines so that the process of continuously filing mercy petitions, review, and curative petitions, including on grounds of inordinate delays, stops at some point in time. ASG argued that when the matter came up on the last occasion, the Court had said it would wait for the pronouncement of the 2024 State of Maharashtra and Ors. v. Pradeep Yashwant Kokade judgment. In that judgment, a three-judge bench directed all States and UTs to constitute a dedicated cell for the prompt processing of the mercy petitions by death row convicts within the timeline laid down by the respective governments.Remarking that Shatrughan judgment has huge ramifications, ASG said: "Kindly recollect it was indicating that another judgment is reserved by this Court where they want to make the Shahtrugan judgment a little victim-oriented otherwise there is no timeline for the consideration of mercy petition and various aspects. It will prolong...It will keep on going on by filing application after application. Ultimately, we will not be able to do anything. Victims will suffer. Shatrughan Chauhan comes in the way of many cases, we want some clarification."When Justice Mehta asked if the Union is intending to seek laying down of outer limits in which mercy petitions will have to be decided, ASG Nataraj said that he is asking for the time limit in some of the issues. He clarified that the Union is not asking for outer limits within which a mercy petition or decisions have to be rendered. "Today, it may not be decided, I will come out with some proposal," ASG submitted. As per the modification application of the Union, it has urged the Court to fix a timeline for filing a curative petition and a mercy petition. The application stated that putting off the execution due to the pendency of proceedings of a co-convict can have a de-humanising effect on the convict, whose all legal remedies have been exhausted.The Centre has said that these guidelines "do not take into account an irreparable mental trauma, agony, upheaval and derangement of the victims and their family members, the collective conscience of the nation and the deterrent effect which the capital punishment intends to make".It is stated in the application that in situations where multiple convicts are facing the death penalty in the same case, execution can be prolonged if they choose to avail different legal remedies independently at different times. This can frustrate the simultaneous execution of all convicts, due to pendency of some proceeding at the instance of any of the convicts.The application also seeks to reduce the notice period of 14 days for execution after the rejection of the mercy petition to 7 days.The following are the modifications sought :Declare that death row convicts can file a curative petition after the dismissal of a review petition only within the time stipulated by the Court.Clarify that the mercy petition has to be filed within 7 days of the issuance of the death warrant by the court.Direct that the death warrant against a convict has to be executed within 7 days of rejection of the mercy petition, regardless of the pendency of legal proceedings at the instance of co-convicts.The Centre's review and curative pleas against the Shatrughan Chauhan judgment were dismissed in 2014 and 2017, respectively.The Court will hear the matter on October 8. It clarified that no adjournments will be given.Case Details: SHATRUGHAN CHAUHAN Vs UNION OF INDIA|MA 265/2020 in W.P.(Crl.) No. 55/2013

Supreme Court To Hear Union's Plea To Modify 'Shatrughan Chauhan' Judgment On Death Row Convicts' Mercy Petitions

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

The Union said that the 'Shatrughan Chauhan' judgment was creating hurdles in many cases.

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