Know Thy Newly Appointed Supreme Court Judge: Justice Joymalya Bagchi
Justice Joymalya Bagchi formerly serving as Judge of Calcutta High Court was appointed to the Supreme Court on 10-3-2025 and is in line to become the CJI in 2031.
Death sentence
‘Undue delay in issuing execution warrant for death penalty violates convicts right under Art. 21’; SC issues directions to tackle delays
“Article 21 of the Constitution does not end with the pronouncement of the sentence but extends to the execution stage of that sentence. An inordinate delay in the execution of the sentence of death has a dehumanising effect on the accused. An inordinate delay caused by circumstances beyond the prisoners’ control mandates the commutation of a death sentence.”
NRJ Series | When SC commuted death sentence to transportation for life after finding High Court’s confirmation to be based on subjective feelings and not positive evidence [(1954) 2 SCC 227]
This report covers the Supreme Court’s Never Reported Judgment, on commutation of sentence, dating back to the year 1954.
Criminal Law Roundup | A quick recap of top criminal law cases from October 2024
Read about the significant criminal law matters heard and decided by the Supreme Court and High Courts in October 2024
Know why Supreme Court decided to acquit and quash death sentence of 2012 Pune Triple Murder accused
The accused was arrested in 2012 on the suspicion of murdering his wife, mother and 2-year-old daughter. In 2016, the Trial Court convicted him and imposed death penalty which was confirmed by Bombay High Court
Supreme Court commutes death sentence of father convicted for murdering his pregnant daughter over inter-caste marriage
The Court affirmed the father’s conviction but converted the death penalty to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment without remission considering several mitigating factors favouring the accused.
‘Act quite close to cannibalism’; Bombay HC confirms death sentence of a man who killed, intended to eat his mother
The present case is the most brutal, barbaric, and gruesome murder of a 60-year-old mother by her son on 28-08-2017 at Makadwala Vasahat, Kolhapur, where her body parts, i.e., liver, intestine, heart, rib and breast were eviscerated outside
‘Contradictory versions and sketchy evidence’; Jharkhand HC sets aside conviction and death sentence of a man convicted for murder of his pregnant wife and 15-months-old child
The prosecution case has crumbled like a house of cards. Neither the circumstances have been proved which can lead to a conclusion that the accused was complicit in offence, nor any consistent prosecution version has come which can be relied upon.
‘Criminal justice not one-sided, balance b/w conflicting rights & duties must be drawn’; Orissa HC permits recall of witness at stage of death reference
The Court permitted to put the questions mentioned in the questionnaire to the informant in the cross-examination. Regarding the evidentiary value of the same, the Court added that it will be decided during hearing of the criminal appeal and the application for confirmation of sentence.
[POCSO] Uttaranchal HC commutes death sentence to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment for man who committed rape on his stepsister
The Court opined that the prosecution did not place any material or evidence to conclude that reformation, rehabilitation, and social re-integration of the accused into society was not possible.
Know Thy Judge | Supreme Court of India: Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha
Appointed directly from the Bar as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice P.S. Narasimha’s tenure as an advocate and as a Judge boasts of several landmark cases.
[Rarest of rare case] Orissa Court awards death sentence to five for chopping hands, legs and committing spine-chilling murder
“The series of inhuman acts involved extreme brutality and exceptional depravity and the crime was committed in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting and dastardly manner.”
‘Law has more focus on reformatory side’; Tripura HC commutes death sentence to life imprisonment of a man convicted for murdering five people
“The sword of justice given to a Judge has to be exercise with utmost responsibility and judiciously considering the reforms.”
“Sentencing jurisprudence needs to have better clarity without having any ambiguity at any juncture”: Justice UU Lalit
Former CJI Justice UU Lalit released the 8th edition of Ahmad Siddique’s book “Criminology, Penology and Victimology” revised by Advocate Sanjay Vashishtha
Chhattisgarh High Court commutes death sentence of man convicted for killing his parents over ideological differences
“Murder was committed by him by 3 gunshot injuries to each of them, hence no doubt, such heinous crime should be deprecated and no amount of criticism can be given to such gruesome act, that too, of his own father and mother.”
Never Reported Judgement| When Supreme Court denied commutation of death sentence despite passage of significant time since its pronouncement [(1952) 2 SCC 310]
This report covers the Supreme Court’s Never Reported Judgment dating back to the year 1952 on commutation of death sentence.
Supreme Court, in a balancing act, commutes Death Sentence to 20 Years Imprisonment in Indiscriminate Firing case that killed 6
The Supreme Court held that the Court cannot be limited only to two punishments, one a sentence of imprisonment, for all intents and purposes, of not more than 14 years and the other death.
Rajasthan High Court commutes death penalty of a man convicted for rape and murder of 4 and a half-year old girl
“The Trial Court has rightly convicted the accused and we do not find any illegality in the impugned judgment of conviction and therefore, the same deserves to be upheld.”
‘Not rarest of rare case’; Delhi High Court commutes death sentence of man for kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old
Though causing death of someone in itself is perversity, however causing death by smothering and inflicting injuries by jack handle though opined to be consistent with intense torture, cannot be held to be a diabolic or seriously perverse manner of committing murder so as to shock the collective conscience of the society and fall in the category of rarest of rare cases.
[Beant Singh Assassination Case] Supreme Court refuses to commute death penalty of Balwant Singh
The Supreme Court also directed the competent authority to deal with the mercy petition later and take further decision as and when deemed necessary.