NE LEGAL BUREAU
NEW DELHI, JAN 22
Amid uncertainty over the execution of the four convicts sentenced to death for the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case, the Centre on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court to introduce a 7-day deadline for death-row convicts to file mercy petitions.
The government also wants the top court to introduce a time limit for filing of review and curative petitions in such cases.
The Centre requested the top court to amend its 2014 verdict in the Shatrughan Chauhan case where it had taken a dim view of the executive keeping mercy petitions on hold for years and ruled that this wait for a torture for the convicts.
The top court had also taken a dim view of the secret executions by the state and ordered jail authorities to ensure that there was a 14-day gap between the rejection of their mercy pleas and their hanging. “Retribution has no constitutional value in our largest democratic country,” the judges had ruled.
