Ramasrey @ Fakkad v. State of Uttar Pradesh
Background
Four death-row convicts (including Ramasrey @ Fakkad, convicted for kidnapping and murder) had their death sentences commuted, either by courts or through presidential/gubernatorial mercy powers, to "imprisonment for the remainder of natural life," a sentence that denies the ordinary right to seek remission after 14 years. All four filed writ petitions directly under Article 32 of the Constitution, arguing that the Indian Penal Code recognises only two punishments for murder (death or ordinary life imprisonment) and that a sentence without any possibility of remission is unconstitutional and defeats their statutory right to seek remission under Section 432 CrPC.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court dismissed all four writ petitions. It held that a five-judge Constitution Bench in Union of India v. V. Sriharan (2016) had already settled that courts may impose a special category of sentence (life imprisonment or a term beyond 14 years, placed beyond the scope of ordinary remission) in place of the death penalty, and that this is constitutionally valid. The Court found it impermissible for a two-judge bench to revisit that settled position. On the clemency questions, it reiterated that judicial review of Presidential/Gubernatorial power under Articles 72/161 is confined to narrow grounds (non-application of mind, mala fides, reliance on irrelevant material, arbitrariness) and that none of the petitioners had shown any such defect; the Court cannot sit in appeal over the exercise of that executive power. It also noted the petitioners had not even exhausted available remission remedies before approaching the Court directly.
Lesson Learnt
A "sentence for the remainder of natural life without remission" is a valid, constitutionally sound alternative to the death penalty in India, and the Supreme Court will not entertain a writ petition asking it to second-guess a Presidential or Gubernatorial clemency decision unless there is concrete proof of bad faith, arbitrariness, or a total failure to apply mind.