Hanging of four aides of sandalwood smuggler Veerappan has been put off for at least six months as the Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to keep as pending their plea seeking commutation of the capital punishment awarded to them for killing 22 police personnel in a landmine blast in Karnataka in 1993.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Altamas Kabir took the decision saying that it was keeping the matter pending since another bench, which has heard an identical plea, has reserved its judgment.
“In our view, the proper course of action is to adjourn the matter until another bench renders its judgment on similar matters. Therefore, accordingly we adjourn the hearing of this matter for six months to enable another bench to deliver the judgment in another pending matter. As a consequence, the interim order staying the execution of petitioners (Veerappan’s aides) passed on February 18 shall continue (until further orders),” said the bench, also comprising justices A.R. Dave and Vikramajit Sen.
Veerappan’s elder brother Gnanaprakash and his aides — Simon, Meesekar Madaiah and Bilavendran — were awarded death sentence in 2004 in connection with a landmine blast at Palar in Karnataka in 1993 in which 22 police personnel were killed. A Tada court in Mysore had in 2001 sentenced them to life term which was enhanced to death sentence by the top court. Their mercy petition was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on February 13 and they are currently lodged in a jail in Belgaum in Karnataka. Gang leader Veerappan was killed in an encounter with the Tamil Nadu police in October 2004.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the top court said it has been informed by additional solicitor-general Haren Raval that while considering the two identical writ petitions, of Devender Pal Singh Bhullar and M.N. Das, the other bench had the occasion to consider similar matters in which the mercy petitions were pending before the President. The CJI said that since another bench has already heard and reserved its judgment on the issue, there is a possibility that the pleas of Veerappan’s aides can also be heard by the same bench. The judgment in the writ petitions heard by another bench on the issue was reserved on April 19, 2012.