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Vikram Singh @ Vicky Walia & Anr. v. State of Punjab & Anr.

Review Petition (Criminal) · 2017 INSC 594Decided 7 Jul 2017
Review Petition (Criminal) Nos. 192-193 of 2011
Justice Dipak Misra · Justice R. Banumathi · Justice Ashok Bhushan

Background

The applicants, convicted and sentenced to death for the kidnapping, chloroform-poisoning and murder of a child (for ransom, under Sections 302/364A/201/120B IPC), had their appeals dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2010 and their first review petition rejected by circulation in 2011. After a later Constitution Bench ruling (Mohd. Arif alias Ashfaq v. Registrar, Supreme Court of India) held that death-sentence review petitions rejected by circulation (without an open-court hearing) could be reopened, the applicants sought to reopen and re-argue their review petitions on oral hearing.

Decision Breakdown

The Court, after hearing oral arguments on reopened review, examined each ground raised, including challenges to admissibility of electronic/CD evidence without Section 65-B certification, a claim the cause of death was accidental overdose rather than murder, disputes over fingerprint evidence linking the accused to the getaway cars, and a renewed plea against the death sentence under the Bachan Singh/Machhi Singh "rarest of rare" framework. The Court found no error apparent on the face of the record in any of these contentions: the original judgment had properly evaluated the evidence and correctly applied the aggravating/mitigating factors analysis. It held that review is a narrow remedy confined to errors apparent on the record, not a re-appreciation of evidence, and none of the applicants' grounds met that threshold.

Lesson Learnt

A Supreme Court review petition, even one reopened for a fresh oral hearing, is not a second appeal; it succeeds only if there is a glaring, self-evident error on the face of the record, not merely because a party wants the evidence weighed differently.

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

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