New Delhi: The Supreme Court has advised the government to expeditiously dispose of mercy pleas of prisoners sentenced to death and not to use human beings "as pawns in furthering some larger political or government policy".
The remark was made on Friday by a bench of Justice Harjit Singh Bedi and Justice J M Panchal, which added that its observations "become extremely relevant as of today on account of the pendency of 26 mercy petitions before the President of India, in some cases, where the courts had awarded the death sentences more than a decade ago."
The 26 condemned prisoners include Mohammed Afzal Guru, convicted for his role in the December 13, 2001, terrorist attack on parliament.
As the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has failed to take a decision on Afzal's mercy plea, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has repeatedly accused it of playing "vote bank politics".
"We, as judges, remain largely unaware as to the reasons that ultimately bear with the government in taking a decision either in favour of the prisoner or against him but whatever the decision, it should be on sound legal principles related to the facts of the case," the bench said.
"We must say with the greatest emphasis that human beings are not chattels (property or slave) and should not be used as pawns in furthering some larger political or government policy."
The court cautioned the government that any delay in decision would amount to violation of condemned prisoners' right to life with dignity under Article 21 of the constitution owing to "dehumanizing effects of the lengthy imprisonment prior to the execution".
In its ruling, delivered Friday but released late Saturday, the bench even suggested that the failure in taking timely decisions on mercy pleas of condemned prisoners may accord them and their relatives with positive rights to seek commutation of their death penalties into life terms.
The bench gave the ruling while upholding the death sentence of a drug addict who had hacked his wife and five children to death.
Madhya Pradesh native Jagdaiah had murdered his wife and five children in the age group 2-15 years on Aug 19, 2005, in village Mansa in Neemuch district.
His counsel contended that his client was entitled to commutation of his death sentence into life term after three year's lapse in executing him since he was awarded the death sentence.
During the time since April 2006, when his client was awarded sentence, he had been dying every day awaiting the death sentence, the lawyer said.
The bench dismissed the argument, but it did take note of the larger point.
"The delay (in executing a condemned prisoner) has the effect of obliterating both the underlying philosophies of according the death penalty - the first that it should be retributive and the second that it should act as a deterrent," it said.
The bench noted that "the cruelty of capital punishment lies not only in the execution itself and the pain incident thereto, but also in the dehumanizing effects of the lengthy imprisonment prior to execution."
It further added that "it would, therefore, be open to a condemned prisoner, who has been under a sentence of death over a long period of time, for reasons not attributable to him, to contend that the death sentence should be commuted to one of life."
Empathising with "the plight of a prisoner who has been under a sentence of death for 15 years or more living on hope but engulfed in fear as his life hangs in balance and in the hands of those who have no personal interest in his case and for whom he is only a name", the bench added, "There can be no justification for the execution of a prisoner after much delay."
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