The Supreme Court today commuted the death penalty of a murder accused to life imprisonment..The Court also had some strong words for the State of Madhya Pradesh for the delay in deciding mercy petition and for failure to file counter-affidavit in the writ petition..The judgment was delivered by a Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Deepak Gupta and Indira Banerjee..By way of background, the petitioner Jagdish was tried for the murder of his wife and five children. He was convicted by the trial court in 2006 and sentenced to death. He filed an appeal which was dismissed by the High Court and the death sentence was confirmed. Thereafter, he filed Criminal Appeal in Supreme Court which was dismissed in 2009..The petitioner filed mercy petition before the jail authorities in 2009. The same came to be rejected by the President of India in 2014..The petitioner then filed a Writ petition in Supreme Court in 2014 challenging the rejection of his mercy petition. The main ground taken by him was that there was a delay of almost 5 years in deciding the mercy petition and this itself is a ground to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment..Thereafter, the petitioner also filed a Review Petition in which review of the 2009 judgment of Supreme Court was sought both on merits and sentence..Both the writ and review petitions were heard together by the Supreme Court..The Court at the outset declined the review petition on merits. It held that three courts have come to a concurrent finding of fact that it was the petitioner who murdered his wife and five children. From the written submissions of the parties, it could not find any reason to take a different view. The Court, therefore, made it clear that it will restrict itself to the sentencing aspect..The Court noted the history of the case. The occurrence took place in 2005. The trial court completed the trial swiftly and delivered its judgment on April 24, 2006. The High Court confirmed the sentence within 2 months on June 27, 2006. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on September 18, 2009..The petitioner filed a mercy petition addressed to the President of India and the Governor of Madhya Pradesh through the jail authorities on October 13, 2009. It was rejected only after five years on July 16, 2014..The delay was from the side of Madhya Pradesh government and not the Government of India or Secretariat of Madhya Pradesh. The Madhya Pradesh government took more than four years to forward the mercy petition to Union government, the Court noted..“As far as the Government of India or the Secretariat of the President of India is concerned, there is no delay in dealing with the mercy petition and the same has been dealt with expeditiously. However, the State of Madhya Pradesh has given no explanation for the delay of more than 4 years in forwarding the mercy petition”.The delay in forwarding the petition is totally unexplained and the Court cannot countenance an unexplained delay of more than 4 years. The Court expressed its objection in strong words noting that mercy petition is the last hope of a person on death row..“We are dealing here with the case of a person who has been sentenced to death. The mercy petition is the last hope of a person on death row. Every dawn will give rise to a new hope that his mercy petition may be accepted. By night fall this hope also dies.”.The Court also said that it has held on numerous occasions that in cases where a death penalty has to be executed, the same should be done as early as possible..Further, the Court also observed that the Madhya Pradesh government did not even care to file any counter affidavit in the Writ Petition even though notice was issued 4 years back on November 18, 2014..“We are constrained to observe that not only was there a long, inordinate and unexplained delay on the part of the State of Madhya Pradesh but to make matters worse, the State of Madhya Pradesh has not even cared to file any counter affidavit in the Writ Petition even though notice was issued 4 years back on 18.11.2014 and service was effected within a month of issuance of notice.”.Besides the delay in deciding mercy petition, the court also adverted to the fact that the petitioner has been behind the bars for fourteen years..“We are not only dealing with the issue of delay in disposal of the mercy petition. The petitioner has now been behind bars for almost about 14 years. This is also a factor which will have to be taken into consideration”.The Court, therefore, commuted the death penalty awarded to the petitioner to life imprisonment..The Court, however, also made it clear that life imprisonment would mean imprisonment for the rest of the life and the petitioner shall not be released from prison till his death..Read the judgment below.
The Supreme Court today commuted the death penalty of a murder accused to life imprisonment..The Court also had some strong words for the State of Madhya Pradesh for the delay in deciding mercy petition and for failure to file counter-affidavit in the writ petition..The judgment was delivered by a Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Deepak Gupta and Indira Banerjee..By way of background, the petitioner Jagdish was tried for the murder of his wife and five children. He was convicted by the trial court in 2006 and sentenced to death. He filed an appeal which was dismissed by the High Court and the death sentence was confirmed. Thereafter, he filed Criminal Appeal in Supreme Court which was dismissed in 2009..The petitioner filed mercy petition before the jail authorities in 2009. The same came to be rejected by the President of India in 2014..The petitioner then filed a Writ petition in Supreme Court in 2014 challenging the rejection of his mercy petition. The main ground taken by him was that there was a delay of almost 5 years in deciding the mercy petition and this itself is a ground to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment..Thereafter, the petitioner also filed a Review Petition in which review of the 2009 judgment of Supreme Court was sought both on merits and sentence..Both the writ and review petitions were heard together by the Supreme Court..The Court at the outset declined the review petition on merits. It held that three courts have come to a concurrent finding of fact that it was the petitioner who murdered his wife and five children. From the written submissions of the parties, it could not find any reason to take a different view. The Court, therefore, made it clear that it will restrict itself to the sentencing aspect..The Court noted the history of the case. The occurrence took place in 2005. The trial court completed the trial swiftly and delivered its judgment on April 24, 2006. The High Court confirmed the sentence within 2 months on June 27, 2006. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal on September 18, 2009..The petitioner filed a mercy petition addressed to the President of India and the Governor of Madhya Pradesh through the jail authorities on October 13, 2009. It was rejected only after five years on July 16, 2014..The delay was from the side of Madhya Pradesh government and not the Government of India or Secretariat of Madhya Pradesh. The Madhya Pradesh government took more than four years to forward the mercy petition to Union government, the Court noted..“As far as the Government of India or the Secretariat of the President of India is concerned, there is no delay in dealing with the mercy petition and the same has been dealt with expeditiously. However, the State of Madhya Pradesh has given no explanation for the delay of more than 4 years in forwarding the mercy petition”.The delay in forwarding the petition is totally unexplained and the Court cannot countenance an unexplained delay of more than 4 years. The Court expressed its objection in strong words noting that mercy petition is the last hope of a person on death row..“We are dealing here with the case of a person who has been sentenced to death. The mercy petition is the last hope of a person on death row. Every dawn will give rise to a new hope that his mercy petition may be accepted. By night fall this hope also dies.”.The Court also said that it has held on numerous occasions that in cases where a death penalty has to be executed, the same should be done as early as possible..Further, the Court also observed that the Madhya Pradesh government did not even care to file any counter affidavit in the Writ Petition even though notice was issued 4 years back on November 18, 2014..“We are constrained to observe that not only was there a long, inordinate and unexplained delay on the part of the State of Madhya Pradesh but to make matters worse, the State of Madhya Pradesh has not even cared to file any counter affidavit in the Writ Petition even though notice was issued 4 years back on 18.11.2014 and service was effected within a month of issuance of notice.”.Besides the delay in deciding mercy petition, the court also adverted to the fact that the petitioner has been behind the bars for fourteen years..“We are not only dealing with the issue of delay in disposal of the mercy petition. The petitioner has now been behind bars for almost about 14 years. This is also a factor which will have to be taken into consideration”.The Court, therefore, commuted the death penalty awarded to the petitioner to life imprisonment..The Court, however, also made it clear that life imprisonment would mean imprisonment for the rest of the life and the petitioner shall not be released from prison till his death..Read the judgment below.
