The Supreme Court's division bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Hima Kohli, and Justice J.B. Pardiwala recently stayed the execution of a death row convict and allowed a representative of the National Law University's Project 39A to visit the convict in Yerwada Jail in Pune for his psychiatric and psychological evaluation.

The court also granted the criminal miscellaneous petition filed by Project 39A, which was established under the auspices of National Law University Delhi to provide pro bono legal representation, particularly to death row convicts.

"The criminal miscellaneous petition has been instituted by Project 39A which is set up under the auspices of National Law University Delhi for providing pro bono legal representation particularly to convicts who have been sentenced to death. Ms Nuriya Ansari, who holds a Master’s degree in Applied Psychology from Amity University is working as a mitigating investigator at Project 39A."

The Supreme Court granted leave in the special leave petition and ordered the original case records in the matter to be produced. In light of the decision in Manoj vs. State of Madhya Pradesh, in which regulations were issued for the psychological examination of a death row convict, the Court provided the following instructions:

1. "The respondent-state shall place before this court the report(s) of all the Probation Officers relating to the appellant within a period of eight weeks
2. The Superintendent of the Yerwada Central Jail shall submit a report in regard to the nature of work which has been performed by the appellant while in jail and a report in regard to the conduct and behaviour of the appellant while in jail within a period of eight weeks
3. The Head of Sassoon General Hospital, Pune shall constitute a suitable team for the purpose of carrying out a psychological evaluation of the appellant. The report of the evaluation shall be submitted to this Court through the Standing Counsel for the State of Maharashtra within a period of eight weeks
4. Ms Nuriya Ansari is permitted to have access to the appellant who is presently lodged in Yerwada Central Jail, Pune to submit her report in regard to the psychological assessment of the appellant"

The petition requested that Ms. Nuriya Ansari of Project 39A be granted permission to physically visit the convict Ramkirat Munnilal Goud in Yerwada Central Jail and conduct multiple in-person interviews for the purpose of gathering information and recording the interviews for use in the sentencing. Ms. Ansari is a mitigating investigator with Project 39A and has a Masters Degree in Applied Psychology. Goud had petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn his conviction and sentence. Goud was charged with raping and killing a three-year-old girl. In 2019, the trial court convicted Goud under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act and sentenced him to death. By 2021, the Bombay High Court would have upheld the death penalty.

Case Title: Ramkirat Munilal Goud Vs The State Of Maharashtra

SLP (Crl) No. - 5928-5929/2022

Link: https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2022/17184/17184_2022_1_4_39516_Order_10-Nov-2022.pdf