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Mukesh v. State of NCT of Delhi

Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2020 INSC 311Decided 19 Mar 2020
Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 119 of 2020
Justice R. Banumathi · Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice A.S. Bopanna

Background

Mukesh was one of the convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder case (the "Nirbhaya" case). His conviction and death sentence had already been upheld by the trial court, the High Court, and the Supreme Court on appeal, and his subsequent review petition, curative petition, and a prior writ petition against rejection of his first mercy petition had all been dismissed. His mercy petition was again rejected by the President, and a fresh criminal revision he filed against the scheduled execution was dismissed by the trial court and the Delhi High Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found no ground to entertain yet another Article 32 writ petition, since the points raised, evidentiary issues, a co-accused's disability, and doubts about the circumstances of his arrest, had already been fully considered and rejected across multiple rounds of litigation including the Court's own earlier judgment and review/curative orders. The writ petition was dismissed along with all pending applications.

Lesson Learnt

Once a death-sentence case has gone through appeal, review, curative petition, and a prior mercy-petition challenge, courts will not allow the same merits arguments to be repeatedly re-litigated through fresh writ petitions as a means of delaying execution of a final sentence.

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

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