Center Seeks Review of SC Ruling on Death Sentence

By Press Trust of India Mar 01, 2014 NEW DELHI, India

The center on Saturday moved the Supreme Court seeking review of its verdict holding that undue delay by the government in deciding mercy pleas can be grounds for commuting death sentences. The center submitted that the January 21 judgment, by which 15 condemned prisoners were granted life and paved the way for similar relief for Rajiv Gandhi killers, is “patently illegal, (and) suffers from errors apparent.”

 It said such an important issue should have been heard by a Constitution bench and the judgment passed by a three-judge bench was without “jurisdiction.” “It is respectfully submitted that the impugned judgment is patently illegal, suffers from errors apparent on the face of the record and flies in the face of well-established principles of law laid down by this court and contained in the Constitution and other statutes,” the review petition said. “It is submitted that in the present case, the issue raised was that of the commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of delay, which allegedly attracted Article 21 (right to life) in favor of the convicts.

 “Therefore, it involved a substantial issue of interpretation of the Constitution and ought to have been heard by a bench of five judges, as mandated under Article 145 of the Constitution,” it said.

Source: http://www.indiawest.com/news/17277-center-seeks-review-of-sc-ruling-on-death-sentence.html [accessed 24 April 2014]