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Death Sentence Commutation - SC Verdict

edited January 2014 in Polity & Governance
Recently SC ruled that death sentence could be commuted on following grounds :
1) Delay in disposal of mercy petetion
2) Mental illness
3) Solitary confinement
4) Procedural lapses


How could solitary confinement can be a criteria when most of the jails have special stand-alone cells to lock down life threatening criminals ?
Isn't first criteria comes under 4th one ? Can you recall any procedural lapses other than delays ?

Comments

  • edited January 2014
    Recently SC ruled that death sentence could be commuted on following grounds :
    1) Delay in disposal of mercy petetion
    2) Mental illness
    3) Solitary confinement
    4) Procedural lapses


    How could solitary confinement can be a criteria when most of the jails have special stand-alone cells to lock down life threatening criminals ?
    Isn't first criteria comes under 4th one ? Can you recall any procedural lapses other than delays ?
    Procedural lapses can occur in the stage of mercy petition and cause delay but is a wider term. It can also mean lapses during trial e.g
    - not allowing in-camera proceedings for sexual abuse cases where privacy of individual is paramount, or
    - a magistrate not recording the statement of key witness even after hearing like it happened in Kerala solar scam case.

    The apex court besides listing out the reasons for commutation has also stated that -
    i. if there is no response from the office of the President, it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Home Affairs to send periodical reminders.
    ii. There should also be a regular mental health evaluation of all death row prisoners to check if they have lost their mental balance on account of prolonged anxiety.
    iii. 14-day notice for execution is provided that allows a prisoner to prepare himself mentally for execution and meet family.
    iv. Prison authorities must provide legal aid to prisoners facing death sentence (Art 39A)

    However, the most striking and surprising decision was that it held that there cannot be any distinction based on whether a person on death row was convicted on charges of terror or otherwise, thereby overruling its own verdict in Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar's case in which it had held that delay in deciding mercy plea cannot be a ground for commutation of death sentence. Now the question is where does this lead us to? Can courts, also, be held accountable for dragging a case for years due to our slow redressal system? Can that be a ground for commutation in future?
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