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The Supreme Court last week remarked that it would like to discuss the possibility of giving defense party the facility of interviewing the accused who is facing death penalty, right at the beginning of the trial, and submit a comprehensive analysis at a stage when the matter is considered from the standpoint whether death sentence be imposed or not.

However, before laying down any norms or guidelines, Court deemed it appropriate to issue notice to the Attorney General for India seeking his input.

A bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narsimha made these observations in an Interlocutory Application (IA) filed by one C.P. Shruthi seeking permission to visit Central Jail, Ujjain to conduct in-person interviews with the appellant in a criminal appeal Irfan @ Bhayyu Mevati. Court granted permission to Shruthi, however, recording some points for its consideration it added, 

"Having granted the relief as prayed for, normally nothing further need be done in the matter. However, the issues raised in the application and the submissions made at the bar make us record following..."

Relying on Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, Court noted that every circumstance which has the potential of being a mitigating circumstance, while considering whether death sentence be imposed or not, must necessarily be considered by the Court. Therefore, Court said, "In order to assist the Court in making an informed decision, certain inputs either in the form of a Report of a Probation Officer or the circumstances which the defence may seek to highlight, must also be gone into."

The bench further pointed out that the Analysis and the Report made by a Probation Officer may, at times, not consider the complete profile of the accused and may be dependent upon the interviews which the Probation Officer may have had almost at the fag end of the trial.

"On the other hand, if a competent person on behalf of the defence is given the facility of interviewing the accused right at the beginning of the trial, a comprehensive analysis can then be projected at a stage when the matter is considered from the standpoint whether death sentence be imposed or not", it added.

With this view, the bench directed the Registry to convert and register the instant Interlocutory Application as an independent Writ Petition (Criminal), and separate and segregate it from the present criminal appeals and other connected matters.

Court, thereafter, also issued notice to Member Secretary, National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to present the view on behalf of NALSA as well.

Siddhartha Dave, Senior Advocate assisted by K. Parameshwar, Advocate have been appointed as Amicus Curiae to assist the Court in the matter. The writ petition will now be taken up on April 22, 2022 for further consideration.

Case Title: Irfan @ Bhayu Mevati Vs. State Of Madhya Pradesh