SC quashes death warrants issued in “undue haste” after NLU D’s Litigation Clinic intervenes

A Vacation Bench of Justice AK Sikri and Justice UU Lalit quashed the death warrants issued to Shabnam and Salim today. The apex court held that the warrants were issued in “undue haste” and with complete disregard to the legal and constitutional remedies that were available to the two..This order was passed after NLU Delhi’s Death Penalty Litigation Clinic approached the court against the death warrants..Speaking to Bar & Bench, the DPLC’s Shreya Rastogi said that the “black” or death warrants were issued on May 21, just six days after the Supreme Court had dismissed the appeals filed by the two. Neither Shabnam nor Salim were given notice about the proceedings, nor were allowed legal representation. Worse, despite holding Shabnam’s vakalatnama, the DPLC lawyers were not even informed about the issuance of the death warrants..Says Rastogi,.“We only found out [about the warrants] on May 23 through news reports, and immediately approached the Vacation Registrar of the Supreme Court. On May 24, the CJI posted the matter for the next day before the Vacation Bench. That is when we got a stay on the warrants.”.Today, the court heard senior counsels Raju Ramachandran and Anand Grover before eventually quashing the warrants. The court also reaffirmed the decision of the Allahabad High Court in PUDR v Union of India passed in January this year..In the PUDR case, Chief Justice Chandrachud and Justice PK Baghel had held that all death warrants must be issued as per procedure, with the convicts to be allowed to have legal representation..In fact, it is this reliance on PUDR that is a victory in the larger sense. A number of sessions judges are often unaware of such judgments, notes Rastogi, and today’s quashing would certainly go a long way in generating greater awareness.