Abolish Death Penalty India: inordinate delay

Showing posts with label inordinate delay. Show all posts

Friday, February 6, 2015

Yakub Memon Death Sentence – Why the delay ?

Mrityunjay Kumar

Dec 12, 2014

In a temporary relief to 1993 Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon, the Supreme Court has stayed the execution of his death penalty. This decision comes on the review plea filed by the death row convict in the Apex Court. Memon is sibling of the absconding mastermind of the blasts Tiger Memon and has been in custody for almost two decades.

While staying his hanging, a three judges bench headed by Justice AR Dave and comprising Justices J Chelameswar and Kurian Joseph posted the matter for next hearing on January 28, 2015. “It is directed that death penalty shall not be executed till the pendency of the review petition,” the judges said. Whatever be the decision of the court on January 28, but 1993 blast and all subsequent incidents of this kind were an attack on the pride of the nation and those evolved in perpetrating such a heinous crime must get severest punishment according to the law of the land.

Yakub’s brother Ibrahim Mushtaq Abdul Razak Nadim Memon, better known as Tiger Memon was a close associate of world’s one of the dreadest terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, both of them are living in Pakistan with changed identity and have been involved not only in anti-India activities but also in illegal trafficking of drugs, contract killings and terror activities. Tiger’s men including Yakub connived with Dawood Ibrahim to execute 1993 Mumbai blast, the biggest terror strike on Indian soil that time. Reports suggest that 257 people lost their life in the blast.

Yakub, a chartered accountant, may claim his innocence and his ignorance about his brother Tiger’s activities but the fact could not be overlooked that after hearing the case for more than a decade and going through many evidences, a TADA court in 2007 convicted him to death after finding him guilty of being involved in criminal conspiracy and managing financial transactions meant for the blasts. Later in March 2013, according to an Indian Express report, the SC had confirmed the death sentence awarded to Memon, holding him guilty of being the “driving spirit” behind the blasts that killed 257 people. The court had said that Memon’s “commanding position and the crime of utmost gravity” warranted capital punishment. Memon then moved a clemency petition before the President but the plea was turned down, given the seriousness of his crime.

Yakub’s crime is of very serious kind. Despite being the most educated member of his family, he agreed to assist Tiger to wage war against his mother land. Dawood and Tiger used his acumen in accounting to get funds for the blasts to kill innocent residents of Mumbai. The larger issue though here has to do with inordinate delays in carrying out Death Sentences in India and the message it sends. Especially in Terror cases, for the Death Penalty to be an effective instrument at the disposal of the State to deter potential terrorists, it needs to be executed swiftly and purporsefully with integrity and credibility to the process. The inordinate delay in carrying out Yakub Memon’s sentence sends the wrong message.

Source: http://www.niticentral.com/2014/12/12/yakub-memon-death-sentence-delay-267453.html [last accessed 06.02.2015]

Bihar - India convicts four men over minister’s 1975 murder

Khaleej Times

(AFP) / 8 December 2014

They were convicted over a bombing that killed the country's railway minister LN Mishra in Bihar four decades ago. In a case highlighting epic delays plaguing India’s overburdened legal system, a New Delhi court on Monday convicted four men over a bombing that killed the country’s railway minister nearly four decades ago. The four men, currently out on bail, were convicted of murder, criminal conspiracy and causing hurt using dangerous weapons.

The men, now in their 60s, face life terms or possibly the death penalty. But Indian courts only order executions in what they call the “rarest of rare” cases. The court will decide on the sentence on December 15. “The court’s verdict about my grandfather L.N Mishra’s murder is nothing to cheer about,” Rishi Mishra, 37, a legislator in east India’s Bihar state, said. “If it can take almost four decades for a court ruling in case of a cabinet minister’s murder, just imagine the ordeal of a common man,” Mishra said. The case involved a bomb blast at a railway station in Bihar on January 2, 1975, that killed Mishra and two other people.

Mishra was one of the country’s best-known ministers and enjoyed considerable clout as a politician close to then-prime minister Indira Gandhi. He was attending a function at the railway station to inaugurate a line at the time of the blast. The reason for the blast still remains unclear. Gandhi blamed “foreign elements”, without elaborating. Family members earlier had complained that an official commission of inquiry into Mishra’s death was “eyewash”. Mishra was seen as a controversial figure in Gandhi’s ruling Congress Party and had been accused by opposition parties of financial corruption.

Other reports at the time said Mishra was a Congress fund-raiser and there were questions about delays in his medical treatment. The first formal charges were filed against the men on November 1, 1977. More than 200 witnesses, including 161 from the prosecution and 40 from the defence, were examined during the almost four-decade long trial. Lawyers for the four men — who were present in court and appeared devastated by the verdict — said they would appeal. India’s legal system is heavily overburdened. Part of the problem is a shortage of judges and demands for a huge amount of paperwork and it is also plagued by issues such as corruption.

Source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/international/2014/December/international_December199.xml&section=international

[last accessed 06.02.2015]

Friday, February 10, 2012

Death penalty: Supreme Court notice to govt on crucial special leave petition

Manoj Mitta, TNN Feb 8, 2012, 06.02AM IST

NEW DELHI: The death penalty has been challenged in all the three cases citing the same reason: the inordinate delay on the part of the President in rejecting the mercy petitions of the convicts concerned. But different benches of the Supreme Court are treating this vital issue in conflicting ways on the decisions made by the President last year on the home ministry's advice.

As for the special leave petition (SLP) filed by Mahendra Nath Das of Assam, the bench comprising Justice A K Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices on Tuesday to the Centre and state while declining to stay his execution. If his SLP is rejected in the final hearing fixed for Thursday, Das may become the first convict to be hanged in India since Dhananjay Chatterjee's execution in 2004.

The line of action adopted by the Pattanaik bench in Das's case is a far cry from the one adopted three months ago by the bench comprising Justice G S Singhvi and Justice S J Mukhopadhaya in high-profile and politically sensitive cases relating to the Rajiv Gandhi assassins and Devendar Pal Singh Bhullar. The Singhvi bench, having stayed the execution of capital punishment in both cases, is due to hold elaborate proceedings from February 22 on whether the President's rejection of the mercy petition could be overruled by the SC on the ground of "unexplained delay" lasting over a decade to take a final call.

Given the importance of the matter from the viewpoint of human rights, the Singhvi bench had appointed two senior constitutional experts, Ram Jethmalani and T R Andhyarujina, to assist it as amicus curiae.

Since his mercy petition had been stuck with the President for 12 years, the SC's registry should have logically placed Das's SLP before the Singhvi bench. At the final hearing due on Thursday, it remains to be seen whether the Pattnaik bench, redressing the anomaly that has arisen out of the registry's oversight, will refer Das's SLP to the Singhvi bench in the interest of consistency.

The SC's pronouncement on if delay in the disposal of mercy petition can have the effect of commuting death penalty to life sentence may affect pending mercy petitions, including Afzal Guru's.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-08/india/31036765_1_mercy-petition-final-hearing-bench
accessed on 10th February 2012

The Death Penalty Scenario in India

India is one of 193 countries that retains the death penalty. Some judges have delivered landmark verdicts upholding the rights of death row prisoners, while debates continue advocating abolition or reform of sentencing policies. The Indian government remains committed to retention, asserting executions occur only in “rarest of rare” cases. The death penalty applies to crimes including murder, kidnapping, terrorism, desertion, inducement to suicide of a minor or mentally-retarded person, and in certain cases of rape. Outrage over child rape and murder has intensified these discussions. After an unofficial eight-year moratorium, the government executed Ajmal Kasab (Mumbai attacks) in 2012 and Afzal Guru (Parliament attack) in 2013, both covertly and immediately after mercy petitions were rejected. Prior to this, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed in 2004 after 13 years on death row. Following these, many mercy petitions have been rejected, creating fear among death row convicts. Courts continue to hand down death sentences at an increasing rate. Empirical studies highlight the plight of death row prisoners. The India Exclusion Report 2017-18 found fair trial rights largely denied, with convicts often marginalized by caste, religion, poverty, and education. The Death Penalty Research Project (2015) documented socio-economic profiles and experiences of death row prisoners. Dr. Reena Mary George’s studies (2014, 2009) emphasized poverty, social exclusion, and dignity as central to death row experiences, and examined the human rights impact of the penalty. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2015, 101 prisoners were on death row, with many sentences commuted to life. The “rarest of rare” doctrine introduced by the Supreme Court in the 1980s has not substantially limited death sentences, which have increased over the decades. Justice Joseph (2018) reaffirmed the Bachan Singh judgment but urged restriction of the death penalty to only those cases meeting its criteria. While updating the blog and conducting my own empirical studies, I observed the heinous nature of the crimes that were committed and thought about the families, about their loss, about the victims who for no fault of their own died. If I lost my relative or a dear friend, would I still oppose death penalty and would I still advocate to abolish the death sentence? Having worked in the criminal justice system and also having the seen the other side, where often it is the marginalized, vulnerable and oppressed who are on death row makes me want to advocate for abolition of this punishment. Victims should definitely get justice for their loss, for their pain. No one should escape the rule of law. As long as humanity exists; crime will exist. Should we not re-consider our sentencing policies? Reena Mary George