AJAY KUMAR PAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA (UOI)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India prays that the sentence of death imposed upon the present petitioner be commuted to the imprisonment for life for the reasons dealt with in detail hereafter.

(2.) In Sessions Trial No.67 of 2005, the court of Special Judge, CBI, Ranchi by its judgment and order dated 09.04.2007 had awarded death sentence to the petitioner. The matter reached Jharkhand High Court in Death Reference No.3 of 2007 and also as a result of the appeal preferred by the petitioner. The High Court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the death sentence by its judgment and order dated 28.08.2007, which was challenged in this Court vide Criminal Appeal Nos.1295-96 of 2007. This Court concurred with the view taken by the courts below and dismissed the appeals on 16.03.2010. The death sentence imposed upon the petitioner thus stood confirmed on 16.03.2010.

(3.) The petitioner, who was in jail all through out, preferred Mercy Petitions addressed to the President of India as well as to the Governor of Jharkhand on 10.04.2010. The Mercy Petitions were immediately forwarded by the Superintendent, Birsa Munda Central Jail, Ranchi to the appropriate authorities on 10.04.2010 itself. Said forwarding letter had enclosed the following documents: