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Mohd. Arif alias Ashfaq v. the Registrar, Supreme Court of India and others

Writ Petition (Criminal) · Neutral citation not assigned (Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 77 of 2014)Decided 2 Sept 2014
Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 77 of 2014
Chief Justice R.M. Lodha · Justice J.S. Khehar · Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman · Justice J. Chelameswar

Background

Death-row prisoners challenged disposal of Supreme Court review petitions by circulation without oral argument. They also sought larger benches for death sentence cases. One petitioner argued that the years already spent in custody should prevent execution of his death sentence.

Decision Breakdown

By a four-to-one majority, the Court required limited oral hearings, capped at thirty minutes, for death sentence reviews because execution is irreversible and sentencing judgments may differ. Death sentence cases were to be heard by at least three judges, while the requests for five judges or two additional review judges were rejected. Pending and future reviews were covered; dismissed reviews could be reopened within one month if execution had not occurred, except where a curative petition had also been dismissed. Arif's petition was dismissed because his curative petition had failed, and years spent in litigation did not amount to serving a life sentence. Justice Chelameswar dissented from mandatory oral review, considering existing safeguards and discretionary hearings constitutionally sufficient.

Lesson Learnt

A death-row prisoner's review received an additional opportunity for oral advocacy, with strict limits on reopening completed proceedings. This procedural safeguard did not automatically commute a death sentence or create a fresh appeal on all the evidence.

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

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