Court case(2014) 3 SCC 1

Fifteen death-row convicts, through writ petitions under Article 32, sought commutation of their sentences to life imprisonment. Their mercy petitions under Articles 72 and 161 had been kept pending by the Governments and the President for periods ranging from several years to more than a decade; some convicts had become mentally ill; some had been kept in solitary confinement. Earlier, in Devender Pal Singh Bhullar (2013), a two-judge bench had held that delay could not be a ground for commutation in terrorism cases.

The Court commuted all fifteen sentences. Sathasivam CJ held that Article 21 does not stop at the prison gate: a convict retains the right to a fair and speedy decision of his mercy petition. Unexplained, inordinate delay by the executive is a supervening circumstance that renders execution cruel and inhuman, and the nature of the crime makes no difference; Bhullar was held per incuriam. Mental illness of the prisoner is also a bar to execution. Solitary confinement before the sentence becomes final is itself unconstitutional (Sunil Batra). The Court laid down guidelines: legal aid and timely communication of rejection in writing to the convict and family, a minimum of fourteen days between communication and execution, a final meeting with family, and a post-mortem to study the effect of hanging.