New Delhi: The Union government had the sole powers in remitting the punishment in cases that came under its jurisdiction through the Constitution or laws passed by Parliament, the Supreme Court said, addressing the constitutional issues stemmed from Tamil Nadu's move to release seven people convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
A state government would need to seek the Centre's consent before waiving the punishment in a case investigated by central agencies such as the CBI or the NIA, the court said. A five-member Bench, including Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, gave the ruling on questions related to capital punishment, waiver of punishment and the government's power to do so.
Life imprisonment under sections 53 and 45 of the Indian Penal Code is defined as imprisonment until the convict's natural death. The court cannot interfere in the powers of the President and the governors to remit punishment or to cut it short, the Bench ruled by a 3:2 majority.
Courts can choose imprisonment for life, or for a term above 14 years, instead of capital punishment and bar the governments from remitting it. These powers are vested only with the Supreme Court and the high courts.
As per sections 432 and 433 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the central or state governments can relax punishments even after the decision by the President or the governor. This power is vested with the governments, not the courts.
The question of which government, the centre or the state, has the power to commute sentences can be decided on the basis of the law the court applied while ruling in the case.
The government cannot suo motu start the process for the remittance of punishment. The process has to be preceded by an application from the convict. The government should consider the opinion by the relevant court.
A state government cannot take a decision without the consent of the central government when the proceedings are based on section 435(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
On February 18, 2014, the apex court had commuted death sentence of three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case — Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan — due to inordinate delay by the executive in deciding their mercy plea. The next day, the Tamil Nadu government suo motu ordered the release of all seven life convicts including Robert Pius, Jayakumar, Ravichandran and Nalini.
The Centre approached the court on February 20, 2014 and got their release stayed.
In light of the five-member Bench's ruling on Wednesday, a three-judge bench will decide on the case as well as four cases including the appeal by a murder case accused from Kerala.
Moola Navaz, sentenced to 30 years in jail for killing five members of a family in Chavakkad, had appealed against an order by the High Court, which had ruled against remitting his punishment after deciding against death sentence.
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