Government to challenge Supreme Court ruling on death commutation order

NEW DELHI: The government has told the Supreme Court that it is planning to seek a review of the recent ruling that makes it incumbent on courts to commute death sentences awarded to convicts to life imprisonment in case of an unreasonable delay in deciding the mercy petitions or convicts turning mentally ill while awaiting execution.

Additional Solicitor General Siddharth Luthra on Wednesday shared this with the court while seeking more time to present the government’s views on a plea by three killers in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case who had challenged the rejection of their mercy pleas by former president Pratibha Patil on the grounds of delay. Patil had rejected their clemency plea after 11 years. The convicts then approached the high court, which stayed their execution pending a hearing of their petitions. In May 2012, the Supreme Court transferred these petitions to itself.

The apex court has issued notices to the Centre, seeking its views on the pleas, but the government will now have to present its views on the new ruling as well which holds out additional hope to the convicts.




Those who stand to benefit from the ruling include Punjab militant SPS Bhullar, who masterminded the Delhi blasts of 1993, and the Rajiv Gandhi murder case convicts.

On Wednesday, Luthra sought a short adjournment on the grounds that the Attorney General would like to present the government’s views. This was resisted by senior advocate Ram Jethmalani – the counsel for Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan – who expressed the fear that the government might stall their attempts to have their sentences commuted by seeking a review of the recent ruling.

Reacting to this, Luthra told the bench comprising Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam and Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Shivakirti Singh that the government was planning to seek a review. The bench then asked Jethmalani to present his arguments on behalf of the convicts from Thursday. The Attorney General will respond next Tuesday. A ruling is rarely overturned by way of a review since it is dealt with by the same bench that has given the ruling.

While Murugan and Santhan are Sri Lankan nationals, Perarivalan is an Indian. Murugan’s wife S Nalini was also sentenced to death but it was later commuted to life imprisonment following the intervention of Sonia Gandhi.