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TMI Blog1982 (2) TMI 321X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ad affirmed the judgment of the Trial Court in Criminal Appeal No. 1080 of 1975. Jeeta Singh filed Special Leave Petition No. 343 of 1976 in this Court which was dismissed on April 15, 1976. Kashmira Singh filed Special Leave Petition No. 104 of 1976 from jail and obtained leave on the question of sentence. By an order dated April 10, 1977 his appeal (No. 172 of 1977) was allowed by a Bench consisting of Bhagwati and Fazal Ali, JJ. who commuted his sentence of death into imprisonment for life. The petitioner, Harbans Singh, filed Special Leave Petition No. 658 of 1978 from jail which was dismissed by Sarkaria and Shinghal, JJ. on October 16, 1978. His Review Petition (No. 140/79) was dismissed by Sarkaria and A.P. Sen, JJ. on May 9, 1980. It appears that though the Registry of this Court had mentioned in its Office Report that Kashmira Singh's death sentence was already commuted, that fact was not brought to the notice of the Court specifically when the petitioner's Special Leave Petition and his Review Petition were dismissed. The petitioner had filed a petition to the President of India for commutation of his sentence, which was dismissed on August 22, 1981. Upon the di ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mmute the death sentence imposed upon the petitioner into imprisonment for life. This is so because the President of India has already considered the mercy petition of the petitioner once and has rejected it. We, therefore, recommend that for reasons aforesaid, which could not have been before the President of India when he rejected the mercy petition, he may commute the death sentence imposed upon the petitioner. The fate of Jeeta Singh has a posthumous moral to tell. He cannot profit by the direction which we propose to give because he is now beyond the processes of human tribunals. But we direct that prior to the actual execution of any death sentence, the Jail Superintendent should ascertain personally whether the sentence of death imposed upon any of the co-accused of the prisoner who is due to be hanged, has been commuted. If it has been commuted, the Superintendent should apprise the superior authorities of the matter, who, in turn, must take prompt steps for bringing the matter to the notice of the Court concerned. Order accordingly. The execution of the death sentence is stayed until the decision of the President to whom a copy of this judgment should be forwarded forthw ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r and dear ones before the sentence of death imposed upon him is actually executed. The unfortunate position appears to be that in respect of the very same offence committed, one of the accused persons, namely, Jeeta Singh has already been hanged; the death sentence imposed on another accused, namely, Kashmira Singh, has been commuted to one of life imprisonment; and Harbans Singh, the present petitioner, is now awaiting death sentence to be executed. When this Court dismissed the special leave petition of Jeeta Singh by its order dated 15th April, 1976, the decision of this Court in the case of Bachan Singh v. State of Panjab,(1) was not there. It appears from the report that Bachan Singh's case in which constitutional validity of the death penalty was upheld by this Court came to be decided by this Court on 9th May, 1980. It further appears that in that case the validity of the death sentence was upheld by four of the learned Judges on the Bench, but Bhagwati J. dissented from the view expressed by the majority and he was of the opinion that "S. 302 of the IPC in so far as it provides for imposition of death penalty as an alternative to life sentence, is ultra vires an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssed the special leave petition and also the review petition of the present petitioner Harbans Singh must have felt on consideration of the facts and circumstances that death penalty had been rightly imposed on Harbans Singh and no interference by this Court was called for. Though the Bench must have come to its decision on a consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, yet, to my mind, the Bench would not have dismissed the special leave petition and the review petition of Harbans Singh and would have commuted his death sentence to one of life imprisonment, had the Bench been informed that in the identical case, the co-accused of the petitioner had earlier filed a special leave petition which had already been entertained by this Court and the capital punishment of the co-accused Kashmira Singh had been commuted by this Court to one of life imprisonment. It may be noticed that the responsibility, involvement and complicity of the petitioner Harbans Singh in the commission of the offence is the same as that of the co-accused Kashmira Singh. As I have earlier noticed, Harbans Singh had filed a petition to the President of India after the dismissal of his petition for Spe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... conferred on this Court under Arts. 32 and 136 of the Constitution I am of the opinion that this Court retains and must retain, an inherent power and jurisdiction for dealing with any extra-ordinary situation in the larger interests of administration of justice and for preventing manifest injustice being done. This power must necessarily be sparingly used only in exceptional circumstances for furthering the ends of justice. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of this case, I am of the opinion that this is a fit case where this Court should entertain the present petition of Harbans Singh and this Court should interfere. In the facts and circumstances of this case, this Court would have been justified in commuting the death sentence imposed on the petitioner to one of life imprisonment. As, however, the case of the Petitioner had earlier been considered by the President of India to whom the petitioner had presented the petition for mercy, I am of the opinion that propriety and decorum require that the matter should be referred back to the President instead of this Court deciding to commute the death sentence of the petitioner to one of life imprisonment. With these observa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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