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SC seeks Centre’s response on pleas to seek compensation for years spent in jail
The bench also sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in this case
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Centre to three petitions that sought compensation for three men who spent years in jail on the death row before being acquitted by the Supreme Court this year.
The bench also sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in this case.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order on Monday while considering three separate petitions filed by Sanjay, Ramkirat Munilal Goud and Kattavellai alias Devakar, and who had been wrongly sentenced to death for heinous offences involving murder, rape under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sexual assault on a minor punishable under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso).
The three verdicts acquitting the death row convicts were delivered by the same bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta. Sanjay was released in February this year, Goud was acquitted on May 7 this year, and Kattavellai was released in July this year.
In their petitions for compensation, Goud was represented by senior advocate Gopal Subramanian while the other two petitioners, Sanjay and Kattavellai, had senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Anita Shenoy as their counsel.
In his petition filed through advocate Yash S Vijay, Goud sought compensation for the 12 years of wrongful incarceration in a Maharashtra prison, of which six years were on death row. In its verdict, the top court rubbished the prosecution case and found that his arrest in October 2013 was made without any material pointing to his involvement. He worked as a watchman in a building complex where a minor girl had gone missing.
His petition spoke about how two of his three children had to drop out of school after his arrest, and his wife had to mortgage their meagre land holding to pay for the legal costs to secure his release.
“The petitioner has suffered a grave and severe violation of his fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, on account of being falsely accused of heinous offences, illegally arrested, being made the subject of an illegal and tainted investigation, unfair prosecution, and suffering 12 years of wrongful incarceration, for which the petitioner ought to be appropriately compensated by the state as it has completely destroyed the petitioner’s life, his reputation and his family, with the latter reduced to abject penury and destitution, with the sole earner languishing in jail on false charges.”
As even the court’s judgment placed the blame on the state functionaries for the wrongful arrest, prosecution, and conviction of the petitioner, Goud urged the court to direct the state to compensate him for the loss he suffered.
In its judgment acquitting Kattavellai, the top court had cited a “worrying feature” where the convict has been in custody for years based on evidence that has “no legs to stand”.
It was in this verdict that the court referred to practices in foreign jurisdictions such as the United States, where wrongful incarceration following eventual acquittal leads to statutory or judicial compensation.
The court left this matter to be considered by the legislature, noting that if such an approach was adopted, the State would not be breaking new ground but only affirming the commitment to the constitutional guarantee of Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
The petitions in the matter were filed with the assistance of The Square Circle Clinic, NALSAR, Hyderabad, a criminal justice initiative that undertakes pro bono criminal defense of prisoners sentenced to death and also undertrials, research, and public engagement efforts on issues relating to the death penalty and other pertinent issues.
