New Delhi: In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held that fundamental right to life continues even after confirmation of death sentence and such a right could not be taken away.
Giving this ruling, a vacation bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and U.U. Lalit quashed the ‘death warrants’ issued by a sessions judge in UP within a week of the Apex Court confirming the death sentence of a couple who killed a family of seven members of the girl’s family as they objected to their relationship. The bench said the Sessions Judge had signed death warrants in haste.”
On May 15, the Apex Court confirmed the death sentence on the woman Shabanam and her paramour Saleem who had administered sedatives to her parents and 4 other family members and thereafter hacked them to death with an axe. The 7th victim a 10-month-old infant Arsh was strangulated to death by the two in UP’s Moradabad district seven years ago. The sessions judge signed the death warrants on May 21 and on May 25 the Apex Court stayed their execution.
During the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the bench agreed with submissions of senior counsel Anand Grover and Raju Ramachandran that the Sessions Judge Amroha had signed the death warrants of the couple on May 21 without giving them the right to file a review petition. The Bench made it clear that affirmation of death sentence by the apex court does not automatically extinguish the lives of the convicts as there are entitled remedies like review and mercy petitions; and only after the same is exhausted within the stipulated period they can a convict be executed.
The bench said “Having regard to the facts, it cannot be disputed that the impugned order of execution was sent within six days of this court’s order. This was clearly unwarranted. Right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution does not end with the confirmation of the death sentence.”
The bench said “Dignity of human life is important and it is for this reason even when the death sentence is executed, human dignity should be protected that is the reason there are many judgments mandating that while executing the death sentence the manner in which the sentence is executed should be as painless as possible. Since we find that the death warrant was signed by the sessions judge in a haste without waiting for the aforesaid remedies available to the convicts, the same are hereby quashed and set aside.”
Rajasthan High Court asks why Gujjars given free hand
Pulling up the state government for giving a “free-hand” to Gujjar agitators, the Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday directed the Chief Secretary and the police chief to appear before it on Thursday and also immediately restore traffic on Jaipur-Agra national highway, blocked by protesters.
“We would like to hear from the state Chief Secretary and Director General of Police what the administration did in the last few days to remove the rail and road blockade and why were the agitators given a free hand to take law into their own hands,” a single judge bench said on Wednesday.
The interim order, which also directed the police to stop any illegal assembly in Bharatpur and other areas affected by the stir, came on a contempt petition pending since 2008 against Gujjar leaders including Kirori S. Bainsla.
