Khushi Doshi
Published on: April 4, 2022 at 17:20 IST
In a significant development in Death Penalty Sentencing Cases, the Supreme Court of India has registered a Case to Investigate how Courts dealing with Death Sentences can obtain a Comprehensive Analysis about the Accused and the crime, particularly Mitigating Circumstances, so that the concerned Court can decide whether the Death Penalty should be imposed.
To address these Issues, the Court converted an Application filed by Project 39A of National Law University, Delhi, into a separate Writ Petition.
In the matter, it also served Notice on Attorney General KK Venugopal and the Member Secretary of the National Legal Services Authority.
It also named Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, who was assisted by Advocate K Parameshwar, as Amicus Curiae in the Case.
The Court was hearing a Petition from Irfan Bhayu Mevati (appellant) who was challenging the Death Penalty imposed by the Trial Court and confirmed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Project 39A filed an Application in the Case, requesting that a Mitigation Investigator visit the Appellant in Prison and interview him in order to gather Information for Arguments on his Sentencing.
The Court granted the Petition and Authorised CP Shruthi, a Mitigation Investigator with Project 39A, to visit Central Jail in Ujjain and conduct in-person interviews with Irfan.
The Court also granted Shruthi permission to record the interviews using an audio recorder in the separate interviewing space, or to allow a person nominated by Shruthi to accompany her and take notes during the interview.
The Bench also ordered Central Jail, Ujjain to provide Shruthi with access to all records pertaining to the Applicant, including but not limited to medical records, jail conduct, work done or education pursued in Central Jail, Ujjain, and so on.
