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ACHR welcomes SC commutation of 15 death sentences
The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) has welcomed the judgment of the Supreme Court commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment for 15 death-row convicts on the grounds of inordinate delay and mental illness.
"This makes India to move an inch towards being an abolitionist State and India must now consider abolition of death penalty once and for all," said Suhas Chakma, Director of Asian Centre for Human Rights.
The judgement will impact 414 death row convicts who remained in various prisons at the end of 2012.
The maximum number of death row convicts at the end of 2012 were in Uttar Pradesh with 106 followed by Karnataka (63); Maharashtra (51); Bihar (42); Delhi (27); Gujarat (19); Punjab (16); Kerala (14); Tamil Nadu (12); while Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh each had 10 death row convicts.
Out of 414 death row convicts, 13 were female. Maharashtra had maximum female death row convicts with 5 followed by Delhi (4); Punjab (2); and 1 each in Haryana and Karnataka
Source: truthdive.com, January 21, 2014
SC commutes death penalty of 15 convicts due to delay, mental illness
In a landmark and significant judgement, the Supreme Court on Tuesday commuted death penalty of 15 convicts on the grounds of inordinate delay and mental illness. The apex court said the death penalty can be commuted when there is an inordinate and inexplicable delay in deciding the mercy plea of the convicts.
While the death penalty of 13 convicts has been commuted to life on the ground of inordinate delay on part of President to decide their mercy pleas, 2 others were given life sentence after they became mentally ill after several years on death row. Over 20 death row convicts had approached Supreme Court seeking an authoritative ruling on the matter.
The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court commuted death sentence of 4 aides of forest brigand Veerappan to life term on ground of delay in deciding their mercy plea by the government.
The 4 Veerappan gang members, convicted for killing 22 policemen in April 1993, are Simon, Gnana Prakash, Madaiah and Bilavendra. They were sentenced to death on January 29, 2004 while their mercy plea rejected was in February 13, 2013. The apex court had extended the stay on hanging for 6 months on February 20, 2013.
The court also ruled that a death row convict must be hanged within 14 days after dismissal of his/ her mercy petition.
Ruling that death row convicts and their families must be informed after their mercy plea is rejected by the President or the Governor, the apex court said, "Once the mercy plea has been rejected, it should be communicated in writing."
The apex court said schizophrenia, insanity and mental illness can be reasons for commuting death penalty and the convicts should be given adequate medical treatment and legal aid. The order also said that solitary confinement of a death row convict and other prisoners is unconstitutional.
The judgement may impact Devinder Singh Bhullar's case as well. Bhullar was sentenced to death by a trial court on August 25, 2001 for plotting terror attacks on Punjab Senior Superintendent of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in 1991 and Youth Congress leader MS Bitta in 1993, in which 9 people were killed.
The other death row convicts included Suresh, Ramji, Gurmeet Singh, Praveen Kumar, Sonia and her husband Sanjeev, Sundar Singh and Jafar Ali convicted in various cases.
While Suresh, Ramji, Gurmeet Singh and Jafar Ali are lodged in prisons in Uttar Pradesh, former Haryana MLA Ralu Ram Punia's daughter Sonia and her husband Sanjeev are jailed in Haryana. Praveen is in a Karnataka jail and Sundar Singh is an inmate of a prison in Uttaranchal.
Sonia and Sanjeev were awarded death penalty for killing eight members of her family, including her parents and 3 children of her brother in 2001.
Gurmeet Singh was convicted for killing 13 of his family members in 1986. Jafar Ali murdered his wife and 5 daughters. Suresh and Ramji killed 5 of their relatives.
The judgement may have implications in various cases, including the petitions filed by 3 death row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case who have challenged the President's rejection of their mercy plea less than 3 years ago.
Welcoming the order former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee said, "This is a humane and correct judgement. I am in agreement with the judgement."
Human Rights lawyer Colin Gonsalves welcomed the judgement saying, "The order will have a positive effect on a number of cases. It gives me tremendous pleasure and a great deal of happiness to be able to save lives."
Source: IBN Live, January 21, 2014
Delay in Executing Death Penalty Against Right to Life: SC
Inordinate and unreasonable delay in execution of death sentence is violative of Right to Life, which is the most fundamental of all rights guaranteed by the Constitution, and entails as a ground for commutation of capital punishment to life term, the Supreme Court today held.
"...We are of the cogent view that undue, inordinate and unreasonable delay in execution of death sentence does certainly attribute to torture which indeed is in violation of Article 21 (Right to Life) and thereby entails as the ground for commutation of sentence," a bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Shiva Kirti Singh said.
"However, the nature of delay i.e. whether it is undue or unreasonable must be appreciated based on the facts of individual cases and no exhaustive guidelines can be framed in this regard," the bench added.
The apex court made the observations while commuting the death sentence of 15 death row convicts to life term on grounds of delay in deciding their mercy plea by the government or delay in execution or mental illness caused due to prolonged incarceration.
While reaching the conclusion, the bench said it was conscious of the fact that while Article 21 is the paramount principle on which rights of the convicts are based, it must be considered along with the rights of the victims or the deceased???s family as also societal consideration since these elements form part of the sentencing process as well.
The bench also said that, "Keeping a convict in suspense while consideration of his mercy petition by the President for many years is certainly an agony for him/her. It creates adverse physical conditions and psychological stresses on the convict under sentence of death.
"Indisputably, this court, while considering the rejection of the clemency petition by the President, under Article 32 read with Article 21 of the Constitution, cannot excuse the agonising delay caused to the convict only on the basis of the gravity of the crime."
Relying on various judgements, the bench said, "we hold that undue long delay in execution of sentence of death will entitle the condemned prisoner to approach this Court under Article 32 (Remedies for enforcement of rights).
"However, this court will only examine the circumstances surrounding the delay that has occurred and those that have ensued after sentence was finally confirmed by the judicial process."
It said the court cannot reopen the conclusion already reached but may consider the question of inordinate delay to decide whether the execution of sentence should be carried out or should be altered into imprisonment for life.
Source: Outlook India, January 21, 2014
Moratorium on death penalty: Human Rights Watch
The Indian government should declare a moratorium on death penalty, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of 15 people on death row.
"The Supreme Court has taken a humane view on the issue of death penalty, and we welcome this judgment," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.
"Now it's time for the government to take some positive steps of its own," she said in a statement.
"The government should declare an official moratorium, commute all existing death sentences to life in prison, and work towards abolishing the death penalty once and for all.
"India should show its commitment to justice by joining the growing ranks of nations that have decided to abolish the death penalty.
"Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called for the end of capital punishment as it is an inherently irreversible, inhumane punishment," the statement said.
Source: IANS, January 21, 2014
