The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed an application filed by the Central government seeking the framing of additional victim and society-centric guidelines in cases involving the death penalty for heinous offences.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria heard the matter and observed, “We do not find any merit in this MA (miscellaneous application),” while rejecting the plea.
The Centre had filed the application in January 2020, arguing that the guidelines governing death penalty cases were predominantly accused- and convict-centric. It urged the Court to introduce provisions that also accounted for the interests of victims and society, especially in cases that “shake the collective conscience of the court.”
The application sought modifications to the directions issued by the Supreme Court in the landmark Shatrughan Chauhan vs Union of India (2014) case, which laid down procedural guidelines for dealing with mercy petitions and execution of death row convicts.
On January 31, 2020, the top court had agreed to examine the Centre’s application and sought responses from various stakeholders but clarified that the issue of conviction and sentence in Shatrughan Chauhan would remain undisturbed.
The government had highlighted that there was no time limit for availing legal and constitutional remedies, leading to delays in execution of death sentences. It urged the Court to lay down guidelines balancing the interests of victims and society, alongside the existing protections for convicts.
The Centre also referred to the delays in the execution of the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case, which stretched over several months due to the sequential filing of review, curative and mercy petitions. It sought a seven-day deadline for execution after issuance of the black warrant, arguing that convicts of heinous crimes were “taking the judicial process for a ride.”
“The guidelines are accused-centric. These guidelines, however, do not take into account an irreparable mental trauma, agony, upheaval and derangement of the victims and their family members, the collective conscience of the nation and the deterrent effect which the capital punishment intends to make,” the application had stated.
The Supreme Court noted that the 2014 Shatrughan Chauhan judgment had attained finality, with both the review and curative petitions already dismissed. It declined to reopen the settled guidelines or introduce new timelines, effectively closing the chapter on the Centre’s plea.
