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Shabnam v. Union of India and Ors.

Writ Petition (Criminal) · Neutral citation not assigned (Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 88 of 2015)Decided 27 May 2015
Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 88 of 2015
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

Background

Shabnam and her co-accused Salim were convicted of murdering seven members of Shabnam's own family in April 2008, sentenced to death by the trial court, and had that sentence confirmed by the Allahabad High Court and then by the Supreme Court on 15 May 2015. Within six days of the Supreme Court dismissing their appeals, the Sessions Judge issued death warrants on 21 May 2015, even though the convicts' further legal remedies, a review petition in the Supreme Court and mercy petitions to the Governor and President, had not yet been exhausted. Shabnam and the National Law University, Delhi (filing on behalf of Salim) approached the Supreme Court directly, arguing that issuing death warrants this quickly was illegal and violated their right to life and dignity under Article 21.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that the process guaranteed by Article 21 does not end with a final appellate dismissal: it also includes the right to file a review petition (which, for death-sentence cases, must even be heard orally by at least three judges) and the right to seek mercy from the Governor or President, and the state must wait a reasonable time for these remedies to be exhausted before executing a death sentence. The Court traced a detailed "right to dignity" jurisprudence, drawing on Indian precedent (Bachan Singh, Sunil Batra, Deena v. Union of India) and foreign/international sources (US, Canadian and South African courts, UN safeguards), to hold that a condemned prisoner retains dignity rights right up until execution, and that execution cannot be carried out in an arbitrary, hurried or secretive manner. Applying the five-step safeguards earlier laid down by the Allahabad High Court in the PUDR case (adequate notice, a specific execution date/time, a reasonable gap before execution, immediate supply of the warrant copy to the convict, and legal aid where needed), the Court found the Sessions Judge's death warrants had been issued in haste without waiting for the convicts' remedies to be exhausted, quashed those warrants, and directed the authorities to follow the PUDR safeguards and the earlier Shatrughan Chauhan guidelines going forward.

Lesson Learnt

A death sentence being upheld by the Supreme Court is not the end of the legal road: convicts still have a right to review and mercy-petition remedies, and the state must allow a reasonable, dignified interval for those remedies before any execution warrant can be carried out; courts will strike down a death warrant issued in undue haste.

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

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