SC referred the issue of framing guidelines for the consideration of mitigating circumstances during death penalty trials to a Constitution Bench.

Matter: Framing Guidelines Regarding Potential Mitigating Circumstances To Be Considered While Imposing Death Sentences
Bench: A Bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia 

On Monday, the Supreme Court referred the issue of framing guidelines for the consideration of mitigating circumstances during death penalty trials to a Constitution Bench.

The court noted the present judgment was necessary due to a difference of opinion and approach among various orders on whether a court should conduct a separate hearing on a sentence after recording a capital conviction.

The Top court was hearing a 'suo motu' case to scrutinize how trial courts dealing with death penalty cases can undertake crime, especially the mitigating circumstances while deciding whether or not the death penalty needs to be imposed. The case was registered in April while hearing a plea by one Irfan @ Bhayu Mevati (appellant) challenging the trial court's death penalty order and confirmed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

It was pointed out that the analysis by the probation officer in such cases does not consider the complete profile of the accused and may be dependent upon the interviews which would have taken place at the end of the trial.

Thus, the court had opined aside from the probation officer, if a defense lawyer is allowed to interview the accused at the beginning of the trial, a comprehensive analysis can then be projected, when the issue is taken into consideration from the standpoint of whether a death sentence will be imposed or not.