A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Union government to fix a date to dispose of the mercy petitions of condemned prisoners awaiting death, lying before the President of India for in some case more than nine years.
Counsel Manjeet Chawla filing the petition for C P Bhartiya urged the court to issue suitable guidelines to dispose of the mercy petitions in consonance with the spirit of Article 21 of the Constitution as speedy justice is a fundamental right of a citizen.
When the matter came up during the “mentioning”, a vacation bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat said the petition would be heard in July by a regular bench.
The inordinate delay in deciding the fate of the mercy petitions filed by 22 condemned prisoners awaiting gallows by the President varies from one year to 9 years.
Those who await death include Parliament attack prime accused Jaish-e-Mohammad militant Mohd. Afzal.
Delay in justice
While referring to the Triveniben vs state of Gujarat, the petition said a five-judge bench of the apex court unanimously accepted the view that undue delay in the execution of a death sentence resulted in inhuman suffering and dehumanizing treatment besides being unjust, unfair and unreasonable deprivation of life and liberty of a condemned prisoner and therefore infringes on the mandate of the Article 21 of the Constitution.
Important
“Speedy trial is part of one’s fundamental right to life and liberty. This principle is no less important for disposal of mercy petition. It has been universally recognised that a condemned prisoner has to suffer a degree of mental torture,” the petition said.
“The ignoring attitude of the President of India towards the cause of the condemned prisoners is undesirable,” he added.