Death Sentence of Deosthali mother and daughter commuted

The Bombay High Court has commuted the death sentence of Deosthali mother and daughter from Pune who have been convicted for murder of a doctor from Pune.

The Women had conducted their own trial and during the appeal also had argued themselves inspite of the High Court appointing an amicus curae in the matter.

We will try to upload the judgement as soon as it is on the Bombay High Court website.

Waiting on death row: a cruel punishment

The Supreme Court in a land mark judgement in Jagdish Vs. State of M.P. delivered on 18 Sept 2009 by the bench of Justice Bedi and Justice Panchal has held that the death sentence of persons who are on death row for a very long time should be commuted. The judgement has stated that there are cases where the persons are on death row since more than 10 years. The Supreme Court in its judgement states that, 'The power of the President and the Governor to grant pardon etc. under Articles 72 and 161 of our Constitution though couched in imperative terms, has nevertheless to be exercised on the advice of the executive authority. In this background, it is the Government which, in effect, exercises that power. The condemned prisoner and his suffering relatives have, therefore, a very pertinent right in insisting that a decision in the matter be taken within a reasonable time, failing which the power should be exercised in favour of the prisoner. We, as Judges, remain largely unaware as to the reasons that ultimately bear with the Government in taking a decision either in favour of the prisoner or against him but whatever the decision it should be on sound legal principles related to the facts of the case. We must, however, say with the greatest emphasis, that human beings are not chattels and should not be used as pawns in furthering some larger political or government policy. We may hark back to our own experiences in life. Even a matter as mundane or trivial as the impending result of an examination or the report of a medical test arising out of suspicion of a serious disease, or the fate of a loved one who has gone missing or a person hanging between life and death on account of a severe injury, makes it impossible for a person to maintain his equanimity or normal way of life. Contrast this with the plight of a prisoner who has been under a sentence of death for 15 years or more living on hope but engulfed in fear as his life hangs in balance and in the hands of those who have no personal interest in his case and for whom he is only a name. Equally, consider the plight of the family of such a prisoner, his parents, wife and children, brothers and sisters, who too remain static and in a state of limbo and are unable to get on with life on account of the uncertain fate of a loved one. What makes it worse for the prisoner is the indifference and ennui which ultimately develops in the family, brought about by a combination of resignation, exhaustion, and despair. What may be asked is the fault of these hapless individuals and should they be treated in such a shabby manner.

14. The observations reproduced above become extremely relevant as of today on account of the pendency of 26 mercy petitions before the President of India, in some cases, where the Courts had awarded the death sentences more than a decade ago. We, too, take this opportunity to remind the concerned Governments of their obligations under the aforementioned statutory and Constitutional provisions.

15. Those of us who have had the occasion to inspect a Jail where executions are carried out have first hand knowledge of the agony and horror that a condemned prisoner undergoes every day. The very terminology used to identify such prisoners - death row in-mates, or condemned prisoners, with their even more explicit translations in the vernacular - tend to remind them of their plight every moment of the day. In addition to the solitary confinement and lack of privacy with respect to even the daily ablutions, the rattle on the cell door heralding the arrival of the Jailor with the prospect as the harbinger of bad news, a condemned prisoner lives a life of uncertainty and defeat. In one particular prison, the horror was exacerbated as the gallows could be seen over the wall from the condemned cells. The effect on the prisoners on seeing this menacing structure each morning during their daily exercise in the courtyard, can well be imagined. To cap it all, some of these prisoners, sentenced to death by the Sessions Judge in a case of multiple murders, were later acquitted by the High Court in appeal for lack of evidence.'

Considering the observations made by the Apex Court the government must commute all the death sentences to life immediately.

Waiting on death row: a cruel punishment

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Death Sentence Confirmed for one in Nithari case...

The Allahabad High Court the death sentence of Koli in the appeal filed against the order sessions court in one of the Nithari cases. At the same time the high Court has acquitted Pandher the employer of Koli in whose house the dead bodies were found.

Source : The Hindu - 12 September 2009

Revisiting the death penalty

Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily’s observation that the country should move towards the abolition of capital punishment is clear evidence of recognition in principle at the highest quarters that there can be no rational justification for that extreme penalty in a democratic state. His view is representative of the current thinking across the world. Even if states are still some distance from deleting the barbaric punishment from the statute, they have surely moved towards a de facto moratorium on the practice. Out of step with this trend, however, is the Supreme Court of India’s 1983 judgment that upheld capital sentence for the rarest of rare crimes, a decision that clearly warrants a review. Another compelling reason for revisiting that ruling is the recourse by retentionist states to methods of execution that are less cruel, humiliating, and degrading (such as the lethal injection) than hanging, adopted in India. Significantly, the legal challenge in the United States Supreme Court to the lethal injection has over the years thrown light on how the physical and mental state of convicts (when the dose is administered) entails serious violation of their human rights.

Although Indian law prescribes the death penalty for crimes such as murder, abetting mutiny by members of the armed forces, and waging war against the government, it is in cases perceived as particularly gruesome and politically sensitive that the extreme punishment is awarded. However, those who seek to take the high ground on national security contend that conviction related to terrorist crimes should be treated as a class apart, implying that it should automatically attract the death penalty. The Gujarat government has, following the recent spate of deaths, proposed to make a law prescribing death penalty for manufacturing and purveying spurious liquor. The demand to apply the penalty for various other crimes could weigh heavily on the outcome of the Presidential clemency petitions pending consideration by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Besides, India cannot be oblivious to the growing international trend against executions. The Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence in a number of cases although the lower judiciary has tended to hand it down more readily in recent years. Mr. Moily’s remarks provide room for optimism over the prospect of abolition in the not too distant future.

(Source: The Hindu 31st July 2009)