No Decisions over Mercy Petitions in the last 7 years

No Decisions over Mercy Petitions in the last 7 years

Almost 21 years after the half-sisters Renuka Shinde and Seema Gavit had been sentenced to death for the kidnapping of 13 children and murdering at least 5 of them, and sixteen years after the Supreme court had upheld the verdict, that the Bombay High Court had commuted their sentence to life imprisonment.

The Court also noted that the state represents the interest of society in a criminal justice system. The respondent state thus has not only violated the constitutional rights of the petitioners but in addition, has also failed the innocent victims of such a heinous and grave crime.

The High Court also rejected the petitioners’ prayer for release where they were claiming they had spent twenty-five years in prison. Such a relief or provision can only be granted by the state in the form of remission, it observed. It also cautioned that the crime committed was heinous and that the brutality shown was beyond words to condemn.