Centre Moves Supreme Court Seeking 7-Day Deadline For Hanging Death Row Convicts

The Centre on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court urging to seeking modification of the Shatrughan Chauhan judgment on rights available to death row convicts. The plea seeks imposition of time limit to file curative petition after review is rejected and says the convict should file his or her mercy petition within seven days after black warrant is issued.

Welcoming the government move, Asha Devi, the mother of Nirbhaya, said: “I want the Supreme Court should issue fresh guidelines for hanging the convicts.”

The Centre moved the apex court following the delay in execution of the convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, urging modification to the Shatrughan Chauhan judgment in 2014 regarding the right to legal relief for the sentenced convicts.

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 the application, the Centre said that the judgment was "accused-centric", and that it is important to "consider laying down guidelines from the point of view of victims, their family and the society as well".

In the Nirbhaya case, 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.

What the petition says:

• It would be permissible for the death convicts to file curative petition after rejection of review petition only within a time to be stipulated by this Hon'ble Court and not thereafter;
• to clarify and direct that if the convict of death sentence wants to file mercy petition, it would be mandatory for a convict of death sentence to do so only within a period of seven days from the date of receipt of death warrant issued by the competent court; and
• to mandate all the competent courts. State Governments, prison authorities in the country to issue death warrant of a convict within seven days of the rejection of his mercy petition and to execute death sentence within seven days thereafter irrespective of the stage of review petition/curative petition/mercy petition of his co-convicts.