Supreme Court Dismisses Swami Shraddhanand's Challenge To Imposition Of Life Sentence Without Remission For Murder Of Wife

The Supreme Court today dismissed a review petition filed by Swami Shraddhanand alias Murali Manohar Mishra, seeking reconsideration of a judgment which imposed on him a life sentence (without remission) for the murder of his wife Shakereh Khaleeli (granddaughter of Dewan of Mysore, Sir Mirza Ismail).

The 84-yr-old self-styled godman has been in jail since about 30 years and claims that he is suffering from health issues. The trial Court and the High Court had sentenced him to death but the sentence was commuted by the Supreme Court in 2008 to one of imprisonment until death.

The order was passed by a bench of Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan to the following effect:

"The Constitution Bench has held that exercise of the powers by the President under Article 72 and by the Governor under Article 161 are available inspite of the Court imposing a sentence of life upto death as a substitute for death penalty. We are informed by Shri Hegde and Shri Chidananda that the petitioner has already made a representation to the President of India. In that view of the matter, we do not find that any interference is warranted in the present proceedings."

Previously, the bench dismissed a writ petition filed by Shraddhanand seeking parole, noting that another writ petition seeking similar relief was filed by him in 2014 and withdrawn last year. Apparently, this plea also sought a stay on the streaming of Amazon Prime's docuseries 'Dancing on the Grave', pertaining to Khaleeli's murder.

Insofar as the review, Advocate Tripurari Ray, appearing for Shraddhanand, argued inter-alia that the sentence imposed on him was in some terms worse than a death sentence, considering it precluded him from seeing the light of day until his death. He urged that the direction in the impugned judgment violated Shraddhanand's fundamental rights.

On the other hand, Advocate DL Chidananda (appearing for State) and Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde (appearing on behalf of one of the daughters of the deceased - from her first marriage) objected to the prayers and arguments made on behalf of Shraddhanand. They also apprised that Shraddhanand has already made a representation for pardon before the President of India under Article 72 of the Constitution.

Background

After ending her first marriage of 21 years, Shakereh Khaleeli got married to Shraddhanand in the year 1986. Sometime between April-May, 1994, she disappeared. In June, one of her daughters from the first marriage filed a missing persons complaint in Bangalore.

After 3 years, in 1994, the police found Khaleeli buried in her Bangalore house. Investigation revealed that she was drugged and buried alive by Shraddhanand, after she executed a general power of attorney and will in his favor.

Shraddhanand was arrested in 1994. In 2000, he was convicted by a Karnataka court and sentenced to death. The Karnataka High Court upheld the death sentence in 2005.

Initially when Shraddhanand appealed to the Supreme Court, a split verdict came to be delivered in 2007. The matter was referred to a larger bench and the same led to commuting of his death sentence in 2008 to a sentence of imprisonment until death.

Some time later, a true-crime docuseries on Amazon Prime viz. 'Dancing on the Grave' was objected to by Shraddhanand. In 2023, his writ petition seeking inter-alia the relief of parole was declined to be entertained by the top Court and ultimately withdrawn.

Condoning the delay of about 12 years in filing, taking into account the factum of Shraddhanand's incarceration, the Supreme Court issued notice on the present review petition in September.

Case Title: SWAMY SHRADDANANDA@MURALI MONAHAR MISHRA Versus STATE OF KARNATAKA, R.P.(Crl.) No. 512/ 2024