The Supreme Court has upheld its earlier verdict commuting to life imprisonment the death penalty awarded to a man, for beheading a person in Assam, whose mercy plea was earlier rejected by the President.
The top court on Thursday dismissed the Centre’s plea seeking review of its judgment which had commuted the capital punishment awarded to M.N. Das to imprisonment for life. “We have gone through the review petition and record of the appeal and are convinced that the judgment of which review has been sought does not suffer from any error apparent warranting its reconsideration,” a bench headed by Justice G.S. Singhvi said while dismissing the review petition.
The bench also said that earlier, at one stage, the then President Pratibha Patil had also recommended commutation of Das’ capital punishment. “While disposing of the criminal appeal, this court followed the principles laid down in various precedents and took into consideration the fact that at one stage the President had recommended commutation of death sentence. Therefore, we do not find any valid ground to review the judgment dated May 1, 2013,” the bench, also comprising Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya, said.
The top court had on May 1 allowed the plea of convict Mahendra Nath Das, who had approached it for commutation of his death sentence on the ground that the President had taken 11 years to decide his mercy plea.
The court, which had refused to grant a similar relief to Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar on the ground of delay in deciding mercy plea, however, had commuted Das’ death sentence to life imprisonment. Das, while out on bail in another case, had beheaded one Harakanta Das at Fancy Bazaar in Assam and surrendered with the victim’s head on April 24, 1996.
In 1997, the sessions court there had sentenced him to death. His conviction and sentence was subsequently upheld by the Gauhati high court in 1998 and the Supreme Court in 1999.