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Ajay Kumar Pal v. Union of India

Writ Petition (Criminal) · Neutral citation not assigned (Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 128 of 2014)Decided 12 Dec 2014
Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 128 of 2014
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman · Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

Background

Pal's death sentence became final in March 2010. He submitted mercy petitions the following month, but the rejection was communicated only in January 2014. He also complained that he had been held in solitary confinement from the trial court's death sentence in 2007. He sought commutation because of these subsequent events.

Decision Breakdown

The Court allowed the petition and replaced the death sentence with life imprisonment. The three years and ten months taken to process the mercy petition and communicate the result were attributable to the authorities, not to litigation or delay by Pal. His solitary confinement before the mercy process had ended also violated Article 21. The combined effect justified commutation. The Court did not reopen his conviction and expressly recognized that no fixed period of delay automatically makes every death sentence unenforceable; the circumstances after the final judicial decision had to be examined.

Lesson Learnt

A prisoner can challenge serious delay and unlawful confinement occurring after a final death sentence. Relief depends on those circumstances and responsibility for delay; commutation leaves the conviction and life imprisonment in place.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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