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Jitendra @ Jeetu v. State of Madhya Pradesh

Review Petition (Criminal) · 2018 INSC 1030Decided 1 Nov 2018
Review Petition (Criminal) No. 324 of 2015
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice Indira Banerjee

Background

The petitioner and two co-accused were convicted by a trial court in Indore for kidnapping, gang rape, and murder, and the petitioner was sentenced to death under Section 302 IPC; the Madhya Pradesh High Court confirmed both the conviction and the death sentence. His first Special Leave Petition to the Supreme Court had been dismissed "in limine" with the single word "dismissed," without reasons, and he then sought review of that summary dismissal, arguing that a death-penalty case deserved a reasoned hearing, especially since there had been confusion over whether he was represented by Legal Services Committee counsel or his own lawyer.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court first allowed the review petition, holding, consistent with a companion case it had just decided on identical facts, that cases involving the death penalty require deeper scrutiny and reasoned consideration rather than a one-word dismissal, and restored the original appeal (now numbered Criminal Appeal No. 1441 of 2018) for a full hearing. Having restored the appeal, the Court then immediately proceeded to decide it on merits: it found the conviction itself was rightly recorded and not seriously contested, but on sentencing held that the case did not meet the "rarest of rare" standard for the death penalty, noting the appellant had no other criminal history and no record of misconduct in jail. It therefore commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, but capped it so the appellant cannot seek remission until he completes 20 years of rigorous imprisonment, with all sentences to run concurrently.

Lesson Learnt

Courts should give reasoned consideration rather than summary one-word dismissals when a death sentence is at stake, and even where guilt is not seriously disputed, the death penalty itself must still independently satisfy the strict "rarest of rare" test before it can be upheld.

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

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