'Decide at the earliest,' SC to state authorities on mercy petitions by death row convicts

The observations came on a petition filed by the Maharashtra government challenging an order of the Bombay High Court

The Supreme Court has directed all states and its authorities to decide upon the mercy petitions filed by death row convicts at the earliest in order to prevent them from taking advantage of inordinate delay.

"If even after the final conclusion even upto this court, even, thereafter there is an inordinate delay in not deciding the mercy petition, the object and purpose of the death sentence would be frustrated," a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar said.

Therefore, all efforts should be made by the state government and the concerned authorities to see that the mercy petitions are decided and disposed of at the earliest, so that even the accused can also know his fate and even justice is also done to the victim, the bench added.

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The bench directed to communicate this order to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories for necessary action.

The top court was hearing an appeal filed by the Maharashtra government against the Bombay High Court's judgement of January 18, 2022.

The High Court commuted death of sentence of Renuka alias Rinku alias Ratan Kiran Shinde and others to life imprisonment, noting an inordinate and unexplained delay on the part of the State/Governor of the State for about seven years and 10 months. The accused and her sister were convicted of kidnapping and killing nine children in Kolhapur during the 1990s.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Maharashtra government, submitted even if the HC was right in commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment due to inordinate delay in deciding the mercy petitions in view of SC's previous judgements in 'Jagdish Vs State of Madhya Pradesh' (2020) and others.

"The High Court ought to have considered gravity of the offence as the accused had killed nine persons and could have passed an order to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment for natural life without any remission," she said.

Allowing the contention by the state government, the top court modified the HC's judgement by directing that the accused would undergo life imprisonment for natural life and without any remission.