Supreme Court: Commuting the death sentence of 15 prisoners to Life Imprisonment on account of delay caused in disposing off the mercy petitions, the 3-judge bench of Hon’ble P. Sathasivam, CJ and Hon’ble Ranjan Gogoi and Shiva Kirti Singh, JJ held that exercising of power under Article 72/161 by the President or the Governor is a constitutional obligation and not a mere prerogative. The Court was of the opinion that the outer time limit for disposing the said petitions was not stipulated considering the high status of office; therefore, the same should be decided within reasonable time. Rejecting the argument that the persons facing death sentence in TADA cases are not entitled to commutation, the Court held that there is no good reason to disqualify all TADA cases as a class from relief on account of delay in execution of death sentence and that each case requires consideration on its own facts. The Court also stressed that it is necessary that a minimum period of 14 days be stipulated between the receipt of communication of the rejection of the mercy petition and the scheduled date of execution to allow the prisoner to prepare himself and to have a last and final meeting with his family members. [Shatrughan Chauhan v. UOI, Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 55 of 2013, decided on January 21, 2014]
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 12:21:42 +0000
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