SC Agrees To Hear Centre's Application For 'Victim-Centric' Death Penalty Guidelines

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the Centre's application seeking clarification on its 2014 Shatrughan Chauhan judgment, which declared that even death row convicts have certain inalienable rights.

"The judgment was accused-centric...it is important to consider laying down guidelines from the point of view of victims, their family and the society as well", it was urged by SG Tushar Mehta.

"It is anyway the law to act bearing in mind the victim. Why are guidelines required for that?", asked Chief Justice S. A. Bobde, nevertheless agreeing to consider the plea.

The Centre's move comes in the the context of the pending executions of the death warrants of four convicts in the 2012 Delhi gangrape-murder case.

In Shatrughan Chauhan, a three-judge bench laid down various guidelines for protection of rights of death row convicts, and declared that long pendency in disposal of mercy petition is a ground to commute death penalty to life sentence.

The Centre has said that these guidelines "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".

It is stated in the application that in situations where multiple convicts are facing death penalty in the same case, execution can be prolonged if they choose to avail different legal remedies independently at different times. This can frustrate the simultaneous execution of all convicts, due to pendency of some proceeding at the instance of any of the convicts.

Pointing out his aspect, the Centre has urged the Court to fix a time line for filing curative petition and mercy petition.

The application stated that putting off the execution due to the pendency of proceedings of a co-convict can have a de-humanising effect on the convict, whose all legal remedies have been exhausted.