SC to lay down guidelines in death penalty cases

The Supreme Court on Friday decided suo motu to examine and lay down guidelines, including the institutionalisation of the process for collection of data and information to decide sentences in death penalty cases.

A bench of Justices U U Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and P S Narasimha sought the assistance of the Attorney General for India KK Venugopal and also issued notice to the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

The bench indicated that it would lay down guidelines to be followed by courts across the country in connection with cases involving death sentences.

The bench noted that convicts are at a stage where litigation assistance is the bare minimum.

The Attorney General concurred with the bench that the system -- to deal with issues pertaining to death sentences -- needs to be institutionalised.

During the hearing, amicus curiae advocate K Parameshwar cited a policy in Madhya Pradesh under which public prosecutors are given increments based on the number of sentences awarded in matters prosecuted by them. Senior advocate Siddharth Dave is also an amicus curiae in the matter.

The bench said this policy should be brought on record and scheduled the matter for further hearing on May 10.

Earlier, last month, the court decided to examine issues, including revamping the manner in which death sentences are handed down by the courts. It noted that the process should have more objectivity.

The top court registered the case to examine how the courts, which deal with death sentence matters, can develop a comprehensive analysis of the nature of the crime and the accused. It also pointed at the mitigating circumstances, which the concerned court can look into while deciding whether a death sentence should be awarded or not.

The court initiated the process after an application was filed by the anti-death penalty body, Project 39A of National Law University, Delhi.

The plea pointed out alleged inadequacies in the existing system of preparation of reports by the probation officers and other officials from the jail administration.

The issue before the court arose out of a plea by one Irfan challenging the trial court's decision of death sentence, which was later confirmed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

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