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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Final hearing of death-row convict's plea on Thursday by J Venkatesan

Final hearing of death-row convict's plea on Thursday by J Venkatesan

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published Published on Feb 8, 2012   modified Modified on Feb 8, 2012

The Supreme Court on Tuesday posted for final hearing on Thursday a Special Leave Petition filed by death-row convict Mahendra Nath Das, whose mercy petition was rejected by the President after an inordinate delay of 12 years and whose plea for commutation to life imprisonment on this ground was dismissed by the Gauhati High Court.

A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar, without passing any order on his petition seeking a stay on execution of the death sentence, posted the main SLP, against the High Court order dated January 30, for final hearing.

Das, in his writ petition, had contended that the delay in deciding his mercy petition by the President resulted in excruciating agony and trauma for almost 12 years for no explainable reasons.

On Tuesday, it was submitted by senior counsel Shyam Divan, along with counsel Vrinda Grover, that a Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhaya had already listed for final hearing on February 22 the appeals filed by Devendar Pal Singh Bhullar and other connected matters relating to delay in deciding clemency petitions and that the appeal filed by Das be also listed before the same Bench.

However, the Bench said it would hear the matter and issued notice to Solicitor-General Rohinton Nariman and the State of Assam.

Prosecution case

The case of the prosecution was that on April 24, 1996, Mahendra Das beheaded Harakanta Das at Fancy Bazaar and surrendered with the victim's head.

The Gauhati High Court and the Supreme Court upheld capital punishment in 1998 and 1999 respectively. Subsequently, Mahendra Das' family moved a mercy petition to the then President K. R Narayanan in 1999. The plea was finally turned down in May 2011 by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, setting the stage for his hanging. The High Court, on September 8, 2011, dismissed a writ petition filed by the convict's mother, Kusumbala Das, for commuting her son's death sentence, holding that she had no locus standi to file it on behalf of her son. Then, Mahendra Das filed a writ petition pleading for commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment since he had already spent about 14 years in jail during the disposal of his petition seeking presidential clemency.

There were protests against the death sentence of Mahendra Das. Even Amnesty International expressed concern over his imminent execution. Earlier lodged in Guwahati jail, Das was transferred to Jorhat prison after the President rejected his mercy plea.


The Hindu, 8 February, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2870485.ece


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