{"id":275752,"date":"2022-10-17T15:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T09:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=275752"},"modified":"2022-10-17T15:00:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T09:30:10","slug":"death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Appoint experienced advocates as legal aid counsels&#8217;: SC acquits death row convict for want of evidence, finds defence &#8216;below-average&#8217;\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Supreme Court<\/strong>: Disappointed with the standard of investigation and the defence put up in a gruesome case relating to murder of wife and 4 children by the accused, the 3-judge bench of UU Lalit, CJ and S. Ravindra Bhat and <strong>JB Pardiwala<\/strong>*, JJ has acquitted the death row convict of all charges for want of incriminating evidence against him and has observed that the District and Sessions Judges across the country conducting sessions trials, more particularly relating to serious offences involving severe sentences, should appoint experienced lawyers who had conducted such cases in the past.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Facts and Supreme Court\u2019s Ruling <\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the intervening night between 21st &amp; 22nd of January, 2010, the accused had allegedly clobbered his wife of 12 years and 4 daughters to death with a sharp cutting weapon called Banka. The son, who was not residing with the family at the time, was saved from the wrath. As per prosecution, the motive behind the crime was the extra marital affair of the accused with one married lady whom he wanted to marry. It was alleged that the accused\u2019s wife highly opposed to this relationship and therefore, he decided to terminate not only his wife but also his four minor daughters. He then cut their bodies into pieces.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">While the Trial Court as well as the Allahabad High Court had held the accused guilty and had sentenced him to death, the Supreme Court, however, has reversed the concurrent findings of guilt recorded by the trial court and High Court after finding that none of the pieces of evidence relied on as incriminating by both the courts could be treated as incriminating pieces of circumstantial evidence against the accused.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cRealities or truth apart, the fundamental and basic presumption in the administration of criminal law and justice delivery system is the innocence of the alleged accused and till the charges are proved beyond reasonable doubt on the basis of clear, cogent, credible or unimpeachable evidence, the question of indicting or punishing an accused does not arise, merely carried away by heinous nature of the crime or the gruesome manner in which it was found to have been committed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Court held that though the offence is gruesome and revolts the human conscience but an accused can be convicted only on legal evidence and if only a chain of circumstantial evidence has been so forged as to rule out the possibility of any other reasonable hypothesis excepting the guilt of the accused. Consequently, the death row convict has been set free of all the charges.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Observations on the state of Legal Aid and below-average defence <\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Finding that the case on hand was one of most perfunctory investigation, the Court observed that while the accused was provided with a legal aid, the cross-examination of each and every witness is below average.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cQuestions, which the defence counsel was not supposed to put to the prosecution witnesses were put without realising or understanding the legal implications of the answers to such questions, more particularly, when they were not necessary. The defence counsel remained oblivious of the position of law that suggestions made to the witnesses by the defence the answers to those are binding to the accused.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Court observed that any defence counsel with a reasonable standing at the Bar is expected to know that cross-examination is not the only method of discrediting a witness. If the oral testimony of certain witnesses is contrary to the proved facts and if their testimony is on the face of it unacceptable, their evidence might well be discarded on that ground alone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hence, it was observed that<strong> while it is the duty of the State to ensure a fair defence to an accused, it is should not be done for namesake.<\/strong> It has to be the provision of a counsel who defends the accused diligently to the best of his abilities.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWhile the quality of the defence or the caliber of the counsel would not militate against the guarantee to a fair trial sanctioned by Articles 21 and 22 resply of the Constitution, a threshold level of competence and due diligence in the discharge of his duties as a defence counsel would certainly be the constitutional guaranteed expectation. The presence of counsel on record means effective, genuine and faithful presence and not a mere farcical, sham or a virtual presence that is illusory, if not fraudulent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Therefore, particular attention should be paid to appoint competent advocates, equal to handling the complex cases, not patronising gestures to raw entrants to the Bar. Sufficient time and complete papers should also be made available to the advocate chosen so that he may serve the cause of justice with all the ability at his command, and the accused also may feel confident that his counsel chosen by the court has had adequate time and material to defend him properly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hence, urging the District and Sessions Judges across the country conducting sessions trials, to appoint experienced lawyers in serious cases, the Court suggested that the senior advocate practising in the trial court shall be requested to conduct the case himself or herself on behalf of the undefended accused or at least provide good guidance to the advocate who is appointed as amicus curiae or an advocate from the legal aid panel to defend the case of the accused persons. Then only the effective and meaningful legal aid would be said to have been provided to the accused.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[Ramanand v. State of Uttar Pradesh, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink\/ei77fPK7\">2022 SCC OnLine SC 1396<\/a>, decided on 13.10.2022]<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: justify;\">*Judgment by: Justice JB Pardiwala<\/h4>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For accused: Senior Advocate S.\u00a0Niranjan\u00a0Reddy<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For State: Advocate Adarsh\u00a0Upadhyay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court was disappointed with the standard of investigation and the defence put up in a gruesome case relating to murder of wife and 4 children by the accused. The Court observed that while the accused was provided with a legal aid, the cross-examination of each and every witness was below average. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":275791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[4561,45974,9121,2896,52420,2948,4571],"class_list":["post-275752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-supremecourt","tag-acquittal","tag-acquittal-of-death-row-convict","tag-cross-examination","tag-Death_sentence","tag-defence-counsel","tag-murder","tag-trial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Appoint experienced advocates as legal aid counsels&#039;: SC acquits death row convict for want of evidence, finds defence &#039;below-average&#039;\u00a0 | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;Appoint experienced advocates as legal aid counsels&#039;: SC acquits death row convict for want of evidence, finds defence &#039;below-average&#039;\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Supreme Court was disappointed with the standard of investigation and the defence put up in a gruesome case relating to murder of wife and 4 children by the accused. The Court observed that while the accused was provided with a legal aid, the cross-examination of each and every witness was below average.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SCC Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-17T09:30:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-1-1-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1331\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"888\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Prachi Bhardwaj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Prachi Bhardwaj\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/\",\"name\":\"'Appoint experienced advocates as legal aid counsels': SC acquits death row convict for want of evidence, finds defence 'below-average'\u00a0 | SCC Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-1-1-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-17T09:30:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de579aff4bc6dd24b68d6d472ac92942\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-1-1-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-1-1-1.jpg\",\"width\":1331,\"height\":888},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"&#8216;Appoint experienced advocates as legal aid counsels&#8217;: SC acquits death row convict for want of evidence, finds defence &#8216;below-average&#8217;\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SCC Times\",\"description\":\"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de579aff4bc6dd24b68d6d472ac92942\",\"name\":\"Prachi Bhardwaj\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Prachi-Image2-150x150.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Prachi-Image2-150x150.png\",\"caption\":\"Prachi Bhardwaj\"},\"description\":\"Senior Associate Editor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/author\/editor_3\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Appoint experienced advocates as legal aid counsels': SC acquits death row convict for want of evidence, finds defence 'below-average'\u00a0 | SCC Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'Appoint experienced advocates as legal aid counsels': SC acquits death row convict for want of evidence, finds defence 'below-average'\u00a0","og_description":"The Supreme Court was disappointed with the standard of investigation and the defence put up in a gruesome case relating to murder of wife and 4 children by the accused. The Court observed that while the accused was provided with a legal aid, the cross-examination of each and every witness was below average.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/","og_site_name":"SCC Times","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/","article_published_time":"2022-10-17T09:30:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1331,"height":888,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-1-1-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Prachi Bhardwaj","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Prachi Bhardwaj","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/","name":"'Appoint experienced advocates as legal aid counsels': SC acquits death row convict for want of evidence, finds defence 'below-average'\u00a0 | SCC Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-1-1-1.jpg","datePublished":"2022-10-17T09:30:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de579aff4bc6dd24b68d6d472ac92942"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-1-1-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-1-1-1.jpg","width":1331,"height":888},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2022\/10\/17\/death-row-convict-acquitted-defence-below-average-no-evidence-experienced-lawyers-to-be-appointed-as-legal-aid-counsels-supreme-court-legal-research-updates-news\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"&#8216;Appoint experienced advocates as legal aid counsels&#8217;: SC acquits death row convict for want of evidence, finds defence &#8216;below-average&#8217;\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/","name":"SCC Times","description":"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/de579aff4bc6dd24b68d6d472ac92942","name":"Prachi Bhardwaj","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Prachi-Image2-150x150.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Prachi-Image2-150x150.png","caption":"Prachi Bhardwaj"},"description":"Senior Associate Editor","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/author\/editor_3\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image-1-1-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":223366,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2019\/12\/18\/nirbhaya-case-sc-rejects-review-petition-filed-by-the-fourth-death-row-convict-akshay-kumar-singh\/","url_meta":{"origin":275752,"position":0},"title":"Nirbhaya Case| SC rejects review petition filed by the fourth death row convict Akshay Kumar Singh [Full Report]","author":"Prachi Bhardwaj","date":"December 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court: After a brief hearing on the review petition filed by Akshay Kumar Singh, one of the convicts in the brutal December 16, 2012, Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, seeking modification and leniency, the 3-judge bench of R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna, JJ has rejected the review\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":226436,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/03\/02\/nirbhaya-sc-dismisses-the-curative-plea-of-the-fourth-death-row-convict\/","url_meta":{"origin":275752,"position":1},"title":"Nirbhaya| SC dismisses the curative plea of the fourth Death Row convict","author":"Prachi Bhardwaj","date":"March 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court: A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court today dismissed the curative petition filed by Pawan Kumar Gupta, a death row convict in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case. \"The application for an oral hearing is rejected. The application for stay of execution of the death sentence is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":227342,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/03\/20\/live-nirbhaya-case-special-bench-to-sit-for-hearing-at-supreme-court-after-dismissal-of-petition-on-stay-of-execution-by-delhi-hc\/","url_meta":{"origin":275752,"position":2},"title":"[BREAKING] [Midnight Hearing of the Gruesome &#8211; Nirbhaya Case] |Petition of death row convict Pawan Gupta against rejection of his mercy petition and seeking stay on execution &#8212; dismissed; Convicts to be hanged at 5.30 am today","author":"Bhumika Indulia","date":"March 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The convicts are to be hanged at 5.30 a.m. and the legal remedies in the Nirbhaya Verdict are still being availed by the convicts. Special Bench to sit for hearing at Supreme Court after dismissal of petition on stay of execution by Delhi HC. Bench of R. Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hot Off The Press&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hot Off The Press","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/news\/hot_off_the_press\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":224459,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2020\/01\/23\/centre-moves-sc-seeking-7-day-deadline-for-hanging-death-row-convicts\/","url_meta":{"origin":275752,"position":3},"title":"Centre moves SC seeking 7-day deadline for hanging death row convicts","author":"Prachi Bhardwaj","date":"January 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court: The Centre has moved the Supreme Court for fixing a seven-day deadline for executing death penalty of condemned prisoners. The plea of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) assumes significance in view of the the death row convicts in the sensational Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case of 2012\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hot Off The Press&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hot Off The Press","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/news\/hot_off_the_press\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Supreme-Court_Colour.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":358199,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/08\/28\/supreme-court-acquits-death-row-convict-rape-murder-case-two-including-death-row-convict-acquitted\/","url_meta":{"origin":275752,"position":4},"title":"\u201cClassic example of lackluster and shabby investigation\u201d; Supreme Court acquits two men, including death row convict, in 12-year-old\u2019s rape and murder case","author":"Apoorva","date":"August 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWe feel that the present case is yet another classic example of lackluster and shabby investigation and so also laconic trial procedure which has led to the failure of a case involving brutal rape and murder of an innocent girl child.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"two including death row convict acquitted","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/two-including-death-row-convict-acquitted-1.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/two-including-death-row-convict-acquitted-1.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/two-including-death-row-convict-acquitted-1.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/two-including-death-row-convict-acquitted-1.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":350164,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/06\/09\/circumstantial-evidence-inability-to-explain-situations-prosecution-primary-burden-supreme-court-legal-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":275752,"position":5},"title":"Circumstantial Evidence | Inability to explain certain situations can\u2019t be made a basis to relieve prosecution from discharging its primary burden: SC","author":"Sucheta","date":"June 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThe subsequent acts of cleaning up the crime scene and making false enquiries amount to disappearance of evidence and raise grave suspicion against the convict. However, mere suspicion, no matter how grave, cannot take the place of proof in a criminal trial\u201d.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Case Briefs&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"accused person's inability to explain; burden of proof","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/shared-image-13.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/shared-image-13.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/shared-image-13.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/shared-image-13.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}