MPs policy to reward public prosecutors for successfully arguing death penalty cases comes under SC scanner
New Delhi Apr 23 PTI The Madhya Pradesh governments policy to reward or give incentives to its public prosecutors for successfully arguing death penalty cases in trial courts has come under the scanner of the Supreme CourtA bench headed by Justice U U Lalit took note of a submission of Attorney General K K Venugopal that such a practice of rewarding prosecutors should be nipped in the budThe attorney general is assisting the top court in a suo motu case registered to examine and institutionalise the process involved in collection of data and information to decide award of death penaltyOn being told about the policy or a system in Madhya Pradesh where public prosecutors are being rewarded and paid incentives for successfully arguing death penalty cases the bench asked the state counsel to put the related documents on record and be ready to defend it on May 10 the next date of hearingThere has been policy in Madhya Pradesh wherein the public prosecutors are given incentiveincrements on the basis of death sentence awarded in cases argued by them it said and asked lawyer Rukmini Bobde appearing for the state to place the policy on record and defend itThe bench which also comprised justices S Ravindra Bhat and P S Narasimha also said that it was mulling laying down guidelines to be followed in cases where maximum sentence provided for the offence is death penalty To ensure proper legal assistance to the accused facing criminal trials it said that like public prosecutors who pursue cases on behalf of the state the National Legal Services Authority NALSA can have defence counsel or public defenders office in every district of the countryI must share with you that at NALSA we are thinking of having defence counsel office in every district Something like public prosecutors officethere would be the office of public defenders Justice Lalit who is heading the NALSA said during the hearingThe bench said that currently NALSA has a very loose kind of arrangement where there are some panel and remand advocates and they keep changingHence there is a need to have an institutionalised system to ensure proper legal assistance to the accused it saidThe bench said that it has been accepted by the advocates concerned that the matter required consideration at an early date and asked them to file relevant material pertaining to award of death penalty in other jurisdictions as wellThe top court on Friday initiated the proceedings in the suo motu case to examine and institutionalise the process involved in awarding death penalty in heinous crime casesThe matter arose from a plea of one Irfan challenging the death penalty imposed on him by the trial court and confirmed by the Madhya Pradesh High CourtThe bench earlier had decided to examine how courts dealing with a death sentence can procure a comprehensive analysis about the accused and the crime especially the mitigating circumstances so that the judicial officer concerned can decide whether death sentence needs to be awardedPrior to this an application was filed by Project 39A of the National Law University Delhi an anti-death penalty body seeking nod for an investigator who would collect mitigating information in favour of the accused to argue on the sentencing PTI SJK ANB ANB
New Delhi Apr 23 PTI The Madhya Pradesh governments policy to reward or give incentives to its public prosecutors for successfully arguing death penalty cases in trial courts has come under the scanner of the Supreme CourtA bench headed by Justice U U Lalit took note of a submission of Attorney General K K Venugopal that such a practice of rewarding prosecutors should be nipped in the budThe attorney general is assisting the top court in a suo motu case registered to examine and institutionalise the process involved in collection of data and information to decide award of death penaltyOn being told about the policy or a system in Madhya Pradesh where public prosecutors are being rewarded and paid incentives for successfully arguing death penalty cases the bench asked the state counsel to put the related documents on record and be ready to defend it on May 10 the next date of hearingThere has been policy in Madhya Pradesh wherein the public prosecutors are given incentiveincrements on the basis of death sentence awarded in cases argued by them it said and asked lawyer Rukmini Bobde appearing for the state to place the policy on record and defend itThe bench which also comprised justices S Ravindra Bhat and P S Narasimha also said that it was mulling laying down guidelines to be followed in cases where maximum sentence provided for the offence is death penalty To ensure proper legal assistance to the accused facing criminal trials it said that like public prosecutors who pursue cases on behalf of the state the National Legal Services Authority NALSA can have defence counsel or public defenders office in every district of the countryI must share with you that at NALSA we are thinking of having defence counsel office in every district Something like public prosecutors officethere would be the office of public defenders Justice Lalit who is heading the NALSA said during the hearingThe bench said that currently NALSA has a very loose kind of arrangement where there are some panel and remand advocates and they keep changingHence there is a need to have an institutionalised system to ensure proper legal assistance to the accused it saidThe bench said that it has been accepted by the advocates concerned that the matter required consideration at an early date and asked them to file relevant material pertaining to award of death penalty in other jurisdictions as wellThe top court on Friday initiated the proceedings in the suo motu case to examine and institutionalise the process involved in awarding death penalty in heinous crime casesThe matter arose from a plea of one Irfan challenging the death penalty imposed on him by the trial court and confirmed by the Madhya Pradesh High CourtThe bench earlier had decided to examine how courts dealing with a death sentence can procure a comprehensive analysis about the accused and the crime especially the mitigating circumstances so that the judicial officer concerned can decide whether death sentence needs to be awardedPrior to this an application was filed by Project 39A of the National Law University Delhi an anti-death penalty body seeking nod for an investigator who would collect mitigating information in favour of the accused to argue on the sentencing PTI SJK ANB ANB
