The division judge bench of Justice M.R. Shah and Justice C.T. Ravikumar of the Apex Court in the case of The State of Maharashtra & Ors Vs Renuka @ Rinku @ Ratan Karan Shinde & Ors directed all the States/appropriate authorities before whom the mercy petitions are to be filed, such mercy petitions are decided at the earliest so that the benefit of delay in not deciding the mercy petitions is not accrued to the accused.
Brief facts:
The High Court commuted the death sentence given to the accused to life imprisonment on the ground that there was an unexplained delay on the part of the State/Governor in deciding the mercy petition which results in the present appeal before the Apex Court by the State of Maharashtra.
Observation of the court:
The Hon’ble Apex Court observed that along with the gravity of the offence, the inordinate delay in the disposal of the mercy petition is also relevant while commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment. The ultimate objective of the death sentence would be defeated if even after the final conclusion came up to this Court, even, thereafter there is an inordinate delay in not deciding on the mercy petition. Therefore, the State Government and/or the related authorities must make every effort to ensure that the mercy petitions are decided and disposed of as soon as possible, so that even the accused can learn his fate and even justice is served to the victim.
Based on these considerations, the Top Court found no reason to interfere with the Judgment and order passed by the High Court in commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment.
It was noted that given the nature and gravity of the offence, namely nine persons were killed, the High Court should have decided to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment without any remission. It would have been appropriate and could have provided solace to the victims if such an order had been issued.
The Hon’ble Court also directed all the States/appropriate authorities before whom the mercy petitions are to be filed and/or who are required to decide the mercy petitions against the death sentence, such mercy petitions are decided at the earliest so that the benefit of delay in not deciding the mercy petitions is not accrued to the accused and the accused are not benefited by such an inordinate delay and the accused may not take the disadvantage of such inordinate delay.
The decision of the court:
With the above direction, the Hon’ble Court partly allowed the present appeal.
Case Title: The State of Maharashtra & Ors Vs Renuka @ Rinku @ Ratan Karan Shinde & Ors
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice M.R. Shah and Hon’ble Mr. Justice C.T. Ravikumar
Case No: Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.12674 of 2022
Citation: 2023 Latest Caselaw 336 SC
Advocates for the Petitioner: Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv., Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv.
Advocates for the Respondent: Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G., Ms. Ankita Chaudhary, Amicus Curiae Mr. Shreyas Balaji, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Shrivastava, Adv. Ms. Radhika Jalan, Adv. Mr. Shivang Rawat, Adv. Ms. Ayushi Nagar, Adv. Mr. Aman Mohiyal, Adv. Mr. Kanu Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv. Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv. Mr. Aman Sharma, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Mishra, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR
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