SC notice to Centre on timely disposal of mercy pleas

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Union government on a plea for disposal of mercy petitions by death row convicts in a time-bound manner.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices R Subhash Reddy and A S Bopanna sought a response from the Centre on a writ petition filed by advocate Subhash Vijayran.

The petitioner cited the case of two women, Renuka and Seema, who were convicted and sentenced to the death penalty for the murder of two children. Their matter has been pending before the Bombay High Court, even though their pleas for mercy and clemency have been rejected by the President and the Governor.

He also referred to the Nirbhaya case convicts who were executed in a "biased and unfair manner".

The court admitted the plea for consideration and tagged it with another petition by advocate Shiv Kumar Tripathi who made a similar plea.

Tripathi alleged violation of rights of the victims due to delay in deciding the fate of the mercy petitions. He added that in a few cases, there was a delay in disposal of the mercy petitions, resulting in death sentences being converted into imprisonment for life, making the victims and their families feel cheated.