'Delay In Executing Death Penalty Can Work In Favour Of Convict': SC To Lay Down Guidelines

Maharashtra government moved the Supreme Court against the 2019 Bombay High Court order by which it had commuted the death sentence of two convicts in the 2007 Pune BPO gangrape and murder case.

The Supreme Court recently said that it will lay down guidelines to be followed by the state and the courts when a death sentence of a convict and mercy petition is rejected. The court said this while dealing with a petition by the Maharashtra government against the 2019 Bombay High Court order by which it had commuted the death sentence of two convicts in the 2007 Pune BPO gangrape and murder case. The President rejected the mercy pleas of the convicts on May 26, 2017.

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Augustine George Masih reserved its judgment and said that it will lay down procedure to be followed by courts and states in order to avoid delay in execution of the sentence. The bench further said that such delay also affects the relatives of the victims, as it court potentially work in favour of the accused.

Justice Oka remarked that delay is material in such cases as the accused remains under the hanging sword of execution that could fall.

Two convicts Purshottam Borate and Pradeep Kokade were awarded death sentence for the rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman employed with a BPO in Pune. In 2019, the Bombay High Court commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment, with a fixed term of 35 years, due to inordinate delays in the execution process of death sentence. The high court found that the convicts had spent eight years in solitary confinement, which was in violation of their constitutional rights under Article 21.

The Maharashtra government has moved the top court against this order.

While considering the case, Justice Oka asked the state government that can the top court convert the life sentence again to death sentence. The court noted that nine years have passed since the high court commuted the death sentence. The Supreme Court had confirmed the death sentence in 2015. Then the mercy plea was filed before the Governor of Maharashtra and the decision was made in April, 2016.

The bench said that there was a delay on part of both Governor and President's offices while deciding on the mercy plea.