SC refers to 5-judge bench on framing guidelines on mitigating circumstances in death penalty cases

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday referred to a 5 judge bench on the issue related to mitigating circumstances that should be considered by the courts while granting the death penalty as maximum punishment.

Noting that there were conflicting judgments related to the grant of hearing to an accused before imposing a death sentence, a bench of CJI UU Lalit and Justices SR Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia said, “It is necessary to have clarity in the matter on a uniform approach on the question of granting bail real and meaningful opportunity of hearing to accused in such cases, reference to a larger bench of 5 hon’ble judges is necessary. Let the matter be placed before hon‘ble CJI.”

Observing that there was an urgent need for ensuring that the mitigating circumstances for conviction of offences that carry the possibility of death sentences are considered at the trial stage, the top court had taken note of the issue on its own.

The Bench headed by CJI UU Lalit while registering the case to develop guidelines to be followed by courts across the country, while considering matters which deal with death sentences, had sought assistance from AG KK Venugopal and issued notice to NALSA.

The decision was taken by the bench while it was considering the plea of a man who had challenged the death penalty imposed by the lower court that was upheld by the MP HC and had titled the case as "Framing Guidelines Regarding Potential Mitigating Circumstances to be Considered While Imposing Death Sentences".

The purpose of taking cognisance was to examine as well as institutionalise the process that is involved in collecting data and information in order to decide the award of the death penalty. Additionally, the court had also decided to examine how the courts, which deal with death sentence matters, can develop a comprehensive analysis of the nature of the crime and the accused.

The process was initiated after an application was filed by the anti-death penalty body, Project 39A of National Law University (NLU), Delhi. The plea had said that in the context of death-eligible cases, mitigation is an exercise of collection, documentation and analysis of a wide range of information like historical, cultural, social, familial and individual factors and any other relevant factors that influence an individual's perception, response, and their understanding of the world and people around them.