Maha sisters' death penalty commuted to life imprisonment

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence awarded to sisters Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit, who were convicted by a Kolhapur court for kidnapping 14 children and killing five of them between 1990 and 1996.

A bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and S V Kotwal commuted the death sentence awarded to the two women after holding that the Maharashtra government and the Centre had caused inordinate delays in executing their death sentence and had breached their fundamental rights.

The bench noted that the government authorities, particularly the state government, had acted casually, delayed protocol despite being aware of the seriousness of the case, and did not execute the death sentence awarded to the women despite their mercy petitions being rejected by the President over seven years ago.

The Maharashtra authorities had delayed processing papers related to the mercy petitions filed by the convict women, and a bunch of mercy petitions filed by others on their behalf, it said.

The state prison authorities had failed to follow the protocol of informing the convicts about the status of their pleas, the state government officials had delayed sending relevant details to the Union ministry of home affairs, and in seeking a hearing in HC, the bench noted.

"Though the procedure for deciding mercy petitions mandates speed and expediency, the state machinery showed indifference and laxity at each stage," the court said. The High Court noted in its judgement that the women's conviction and death sentence for having kidnapped 14 children and killing five of them, was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2006.

Their mercy petition was rejected by the President of India in 2014.

The day that their death sentence was to be executed in August 2014, the sisters filed the present plea in the High Court, seeking that their death sentence be commuted due to inordinate delay in its execution and that they be released from custody

immediately.

The High Court noted that the state made a statement on not executing the death sentence till the plea was heard finally, but did nothing to seek circulation or schedule the next hearing, and the plea was heard finally by the court in September-October 2021.

"The position of law that an unexplained delay in disposal of mercy petitions may result in commuting the death sentence was already holding the field when mercy petitions by the petitioners were made," the bench said.