While raising its concern about the pace at which the mercy petitions are being decided, the Supreme Court has directed all States and concerned authorities to decide mercy pleas against death sentences expeditiously and without delay. The bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar said that it is necessary so that death row convicts do not take advantage of inordinate delays.

The Apex Court while taking examples of various earlier incidents, held that "If even after the final conclusion even upto this Court, even, thereafter there is an inordinate delay in not deciding the mercy petition, the object and purpose of the death sentence would be frustrated. Therefore, as such, all efforts shall be made by the State Government and/or the concerned authorities to see that the mercy petitions are decided and disposed of at the earliest, so that even the accused can also know his fate and even justice is also done to the victim".

The bench further said, "We observe and direct all the States/appropriate authorities before whom the mercy petitions are to be filed and/or who are required to decide the mercy petitions against the death sentence, such mercy petitions are decided at the earliest so that the benefit of delay in not deciding the mercy petitions is not accrued to the accused and the accused are not benefited by such an inordinate delay and the accused may not take the disadvantage of such inordinate delay," the order said.

The bench also directed the Supreme Court registry to communicate its order to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories.

These strong observations of the Supreme Court came on an appeal against a decision of the Bombay High Court passed in January 2022 which commuted the death sentence of half-sisters Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit to life imprisonment, in the infamous case of abduction and murder of children between 1990 to 1996.

Both sisters were convicted in 2001 by the Sessions Court at Kolhapur for kidnapping thirteen children and murdering five of them. They were sentenced to death by the Sessions Court which was confirmed by the High Court in 2004 and thereafter by the Supreme Court in 2006.

They approached the Governor in 2008 with a mercy petition which came to be rejected in 2012-13. The convicts then filed mercy petition before the President which was also rejected in 2014.

The convicts moved the High Court in 2014, seeking relief for the delay in deciding their mercy petitions. The State undertook not to execute them till the pendency of the case before the High Court, which eventually commuted their sentence.

Case Details:-

Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.12674/2022)
 THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA & ORS. ...APPELLANT(S)
 VERSUS
RENUKA @ RINKU @ RATAN KIRAN SHINDE & ORS. ...RESPONDENT(S)

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