Centre moves SC seeking 7-day deadline for hanging death row convicts

The Centre on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court for fixing a deadline of seven days for execution of death penalty of condemned prisoners after issuance of black warrant. The plea of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) assumes significance in view of the the death row convicts in the sensational Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case of 2012 filing review, curative and mercy petitions, which has delayed their hanging.

The government stressed that the "need of the hour" was to lay down guidelines in "the interest of the victims" rather than keeping the rights of the convicts in mind. In an application, the MHA sought a direction "to mandate all competent courts, state governments, prison authorities in country to issue death warrant of a convict within seven days of rejection of his mercy petition and to execute death sentence within 7 days thereafter irrespective of the stage of review petition/curative petition/mercy petition of his co-convicts."

The MHA, in its application, has made three prayers which also included a direction from the court that a time period be fixed for such death row convicts for filing curative pleas after rejection of their review pleas. It also sought a direction that if a death row convict wanted to file mercy petition, it should be made mandatory for him to "do so only within a period of seven days from the date of receipt of death warrant issued by the competent court".

The MHA said the country is facing a menace of certain offences relating to terrorism, rape and murder which are punishable with death sentence. "It is submitted that the offence of rape is not only a criminal offence defined in the penal code of the country but is the most horrific and unpardonable offence in any civilized society. The offence of rape is not only an offence against an individual and society but is an offence against humanity.

"There are various instances of such heinous and horrific offences of rape accompanied by an equally horrible and horrific offence of murder of the victim which shakes the collective conscience of the nation," the MHA said. The government said that in the larger interest of public and of the victims, their families, the earlier guidelines should be modified to ensure that the accused of such "horrible, dreadful, cruel, abominable, ghastly, gruesome and heinous offences" be not permitted to play with the "majesty of law and prolong the execution of the sentence awarded to them in accordance with the law".

The MHA, in its plea filed through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, urged the court to fix a time limit within which the convict of death sentence should file curative petition, if he so chooses to do so. "In case of multiple convicts of such horrific crimes who are awaiting death sentence, mandating the issuance of warrant by competent court within seven days of rejection of mercy petition and execution of death sentence within seven days thereafter irrespective of the proceeding, if any, taken by his co-convicts," it said.

The ministry said under the scheme of criminal justice system, a full proof regime is being providing to accused at various stages of judicial scrutiny to ensure that an accused is punished strictly in accordance with law and convicts be not allowed to misuse the judicial processes. "When a death sentence is awarded to an accused after the judicial scrutiny, the procedure established by law ensures that the said decision is mandatorily tested by the highest court of the state namely the high court," it said.

The MHA said in "furtherance of protecting the right of a convict, he has a right to approach the highest court of the country that is this court and file an appeal. This court also not only examines the entire judicial decision making afresh but also permits the accused to satisfy this court about any mitigating circumstances which the accused wants to be taken into consideration before conforming/annulling/modifying the sentence awarded and confirmed". It also said even after dismissal of the appeal, the provision of filing review pleas are also there and they are heard in an open court in the apex court and the convicts have then got the option of filing curative pleas.

Seeking modifications of directions issued in 2014 in the Shatrughan Chauhan case, it said, "all the guidelines provided...are accused-centric. These guidelines, however, 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 found several years before and after the 2014 judgment, the convicts of such heinous crimes under the garb of Article 21 (right to life) take "the judicial process for a ride".

The plea said the apex court had opined that the delay in execution of death penalty has got a "de-humanising effect" upon the death convicts. A Delhi court has recently issued fresh death warrants for February 1 against the four convicts -- Vinay Sharma (26), Akshay Kumar Singh (31), Mukesh Kumar Singh (32) and Pawan (26) -- in the case after their hanging got delayed from January 22 due to pending petitions.

The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before she was thrown out on the road.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)