Don’t delay decision on mercy petitions of death row convicts: SC tells states
The Supreme Court said it may frustrate the purpose of awarding a harsh sentence and give an unfair advantage to the convict in getting the sentence commuted to life term on account of the inordinate delay
Do not delay decisions on mercy petitions filed by death row convicts, the Supreme Court told states and other appropriate authorities, saying that it may frustrate the purpose of awarding a harsh sentence and give an unfair advantage to the convict in getting the sentence commuted to life term on account of the inordinate delay.
The court made the observations while dealing with a case where the Bombay high court commuted the death sentence of one Renuka Shinde alias Renuka Bai to life term in January last year. The death row convict kidnapped 13 children between 1990 and 1996 and killed nine of them, for which she was sentenced to death by a trial court in 2001, the high court in 2004 and the Supreme Court in 2006. The courts had also sentenced Renuka’s sister Seema and her mother, who died during the trial.
Renuka and Seema were destined to be the first women convicts to be hanged in India till a Bombay HC decision of January 2022 altered this position. Renuka’s mercy petition was rejected by the Maharashtra governor in 2008, nearly 7 years and 10 months after it was filed. This factor weighed with the high court in commuting her sentence to death as any delay beyond 5 years was held to be inordinate delay by the Supreme Court in a 2020 judgment of Jagdish v State of Madhya Pradesh.
Refusing to interfere with the HC order of January 18, 2022, a bench of justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar passed a direction to all states and appropriate authorities dealing with mercy petitions “to decide the mercy petitions against the death sentence at the earliest so that the benefit of delay in not deciding the mercy petitions is not accrued to the accused.”
After Governor rejected the mercy plea in 2008, Renuka had filed another clemency plea before the President which was decided against her in 2014.
The bench said, “After the final conclusion 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.”
Further, the bench added, “All efforts shall be made by the state government and/or 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.”
While disposing the matter, the top court modified the HC order by directing that the two sisters shall remain behind bars for their entire natural life without any remission.
The court directed a copy of its order to be communicated to chief secretaries of all states and Union territories for necessary implementation.
