New Delhi: The Supreme Court has stayed the execution of the death sentence awarded to a man convicted for raping and murdering a 30-year-old law student in Kerala in 2016.
The apex court while staying the death sentence emphasized bringing on record reports of all probation officers, the report on the convict’s psychological evaluation, his conduct in jail, and also permitted multiple in-person interviews, in the absence of prison and police officers, to collect information relevant to sentencing along with a mitigation investigation report.
A bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, Sanjoy Karol, and K V Viswanathan was hearing a plea by a convict challenging a verdict delivered by the Kerala High Court on May 20, which upheld his conviction and confirmed the death sentence awarded by a trial court.
The high court had confirmed the death sentence awarded to Muhammed Ameer-Ul-Islam, a migrant labourer, who was 22 years of age at the time of the incident in April 2016.
The prosecution had said that Islam had barged into the victim's house on April 28, 2016 with an intention to rape her and when she resisted, the convict attacked her with a knife and inflicted injuries upon her. After the incident, he escaped to his home state Assam and he was arrested in June 2016.
The Supreme Court bench said the execution of the death sentence shall remain stayed, pending the hearing and final disposal of the present appeal and, against the backdrop of orders passed by the apex court in matters involving capital punishment, issued a slew of directions.
“The respondent-State (Kerala) shall place before this court the report(s) of all the probation officers relating to the appellant within a period of eight (8) weeks. The Superintendent of Prison, Central Prison & Correctional Home, Viyyur, Kerala, shall submit a report with regard to the nature of work which has been performed by the appellant while in jail and a report with regard to the conduct and behaviour of the appellant while in jail, within a period of eight (8) weeks”, said the bench.
The bench said the Government Medical College, Thrissur shall constitute a suitable team for the purpose of carrying out a psychological evaluation of the appellant. “The report of the evaluation shall be submitted to this court through the Standing Counsel for the State of Kerala within a period of eight (8) weeks”, it said.
The apex court allowed a person to have access to the appellant who is presently lodged in Central Prison & Correctional Home, Viyyur, Kerala to conduct multiple in-person interviews for the purpose of collecting information relevant to sentencing and to submit a mitigation investigation report on behalf of the appellant through the appellant’s advocate-on record within twelve weeks.
“The Central Prison & Correctional Home, Viyyur, Kerala shall ensure that, for the sake of confidentiality, these interviews are conducted in a separate interviewing space without any prison official or police staff being within earshot, and audio recorders be permitted to be used to record the interviews”, said the bench, in an order passed on July 16.
The bench said that the person permitted by court to access the convict can obtain documents pertaining to him, including but not limited to medical records, jail conduct, certificates of any educational, vocational or employment opportunities undertaken, etc. that the appellant may wish to submit for the purpose of sentencing information.
The apex court told its registry to transmit a copy of the order to the standing counsel for the State of Kerala, who shall, in turn, ensure that the order is communicated to the relevant authorities for compliance. “All the reports shall be duly compiled and placed before this Court on the next date of hearing…. List after twelve weeks”, said the bench.
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