NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the Centre’s application for laying down victim- and society-centric guidelines in heinous offence cases where the death penalty is awarded.
“We do not find any merit in this MA (Miscellaneous Application) filed by the Centre,” said the three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N V Anjaria.
The Centre filed the application in January 2020, stating that existing guidelines in death penalty cases primarily focus on the accused and convicts. The Centre requested the court consider introducing provisions that also account for the interests of victims and society, especially in cases that “shake the collective conscience of the court”.
The application also sought modifications to the directions of the Supreme Court in the landmark case of Shatrughan Chauhan vs. Union of India (2014), which laid down procedural guidelines for dealing with mercy petitions and the execution of death row convicts.
On January 31, 2020, the top court agreed to examine the Centre’s application and sought responses from various stakeholders, but clarified that the conviction and sentence in the Shatrughan Chauhan case would remain undisturbed.
The Centre submitted in its Miscellaneous Application that there was no time limit for availing legal and constitutional remedies, leading to delays in the execution of death sentences. It urged the Court to establish guidelines that balance the interests of victims and society, alongside the existing protections for convicts.
The Centre also referred to delays in the execution of the four individuals convicted in the 2012 Nirbhaya case, which extended over several months due to the sequential filing of review, curative, and mercy petitions. After reviewing the case, the top court rejected the Centre’s application.
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