Delay in deciding mercy plea of death row convicts valid ground for commuting death penalty to life imprisonment: SC

In a landmark judgment today, the Supreme Court held that unexplained and inordinate delay in deciding mercy plea of death row convicts will be a valid ground for commutation of their death penalty to life imprisonment. In the process the Court declared its own judgment in Devender Pal Bhullar as per incuriam and granted relief to 15 petitioners including 4 aides of Veerappan. The judgment was delivered in a batch of 13 petitions filed by different convicts seeking commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment.

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