(1) Every prisoner condemned to death has the privilege of petitioning for mercy.
(2) The following instructions shall be observed by the Superintendent of Jails in connection with petitions for mercy from convicts under sentence of death or in connection with appeals to the Supreme Court of India by or on behalf of condemned prisoners:-
(a) immediately on receipt of a warrant for execution consequent on the confirmation by the High Court of a sentence of death or the intimation of the dismissal by the Supreme Court of India of the application for special leave to appeal or of the breaking down of his application for special leave to appeal at any of the intermediate stages, in case the convict has made no previous petition for mercy, the jail Superintendent shall inform the convict concerned that if he desires to submit a petition for mercy, it should be submitted in writing within seven days of the date of such intimation;
Note: The date for execution of a sentence of death is fixed by the Sessions Judge on receipt of an order of confirmation from the High Court.
The warrant of execution shall fix a time for execution at an interval of not less than 21 days, and not more than 28 days, from the date of the issue of the warrant.
(b) if the convict submits a petition within the period of seven days prescribed by Instruction above, it should be addressed both to the State Government and to the President of India separately with a covering letter reporting the भाग 4 (ग) राजस्ााू राज-पत्र दिसम् बर 12 2022 674 date fixed for the execution, and shall certify that the execution has been stayed pending receipt of the orders of the Government on the petition and if no reply is received within fifteen days from the date of the dispatch of the petition, the Superintendent shall intimate through FAX or e-mail to the State Government, drawing attention to the fact, but he shall in no case carry out the execution before the receipt of the State Government’s reply;
(c) if the convict submits a petition after the period prescribed by instruction
(a) above, the Superintendent of the jail shall at once forward it to the State Government and at the same time intimate the substance of it, specifying the date fixed for execution and requesting orders whether the execution should be postponed and stating that, pending a reply, the sentence shall not be carried out and if such petition is, however, received by the Superintendent later than noon on the day preceding that fixed for the execution, he shall at once forward it to the State Government and at the same time FAX or e-mail the substance of it, giving the date of execution and stating that the sentence shall be carried out unless orders to the contrary are received;
(d) if the convict submits a petition for mercy addressed to the President of India, the Superintendent shall at once forward it to the State Government and shall at the same time send the copy of the same through e-mail or Fax and the date of execution to the State Government and he shall not further postpone execution unless specially ordered by the State Government;
(e) if intimation is received by the Superintendent of the jail from or on behalf of a convict that it is intended to apply to the Supreme Court for special leave to appeal the Superintendent of the jail shall forthwith dispatch the intimation to the State Government together with a covering letter reporting the date fixed for the execution and if possible, the name and address of the Counsel acting for the prisoner, and shall certify that execution has been stayed, pending receipt of the orders of the State Government on the intimation and if no reply is received within fifteen days from the date of dispatch of the intimation, the Superintendent shall send Fax or e-mail to the State Government, drawing attention to the fact, but shall in no case carry out the execution before the receipt of the State Government’s reply;
Note: If sentences of death have been passed on more than one person in the same case, and if intimation is received from or on behalf of, only one or more but not all of them of an intention to apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of India the execution of the sentence shall be postponed not only in the case of the person or persons from whom, or on whose behalf, such intimation has been received but also in the case of the other person or persons from whom or on whose behalf, no such intimation has been received.
(f) as soon as intimation is received by the Government of the rejection by the Supreme Court of an application for special leave to appeal or of the 675 राजस्ााू राज-पत्र दिसम् बर 12 2022 भाग 4 (ग) dismissal of an appeal which has been admitted the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of the jail shall be informed and the Superintendent of the jail shall be authorized to fix the date of execution and he shall at the same time be instructed to stay the execution pending the receipt by him of the post copy of the orders of the Supreme Court of India through Fax or e-mail;
Note: If a petition for mercy is received from the prisoner, it shall be dealt with according to rules above.
(g) in the event of its coming to the knowledge of the Superintendent at any time before the execution of the sentence that altogether exceptional circumstances have arisen which plainly demand a reconsideration of the sentence, he is at liberty, anything in the foregoing rules notwithstanding, to report the circumstances by e-mail or Fax to the State Government and ask for their orders and to defer execution till they are received.
Note: Where any statement of the condemned prisoner or of any other person in the jail seems to be of importance as throwing light on the crime and possibly justifying a reconsideration of the sentence, the Superintendent shall inform the District Magistrate at once and request him either to come to the jail himself or to depute a senior magistrate so that the statement or statements may be recorded in full and submitted to the State Government together with any opinion which the magistrate may have formed as the result of his inquiries.
(h) when the State Government or the Government of India decline to interfere, their orders will ordinarily be communicated to the Superintendent of the jail by speed post only, but when a death sentence is commuted, the orders will be communicated to the Superintendent of the jail by Fax or e-mail, followed by a confirmatory letter and the Superintendent shall at once repeat back by Fax or e-mail to the State Government, all above documents communicating orders to him regarding petitions for mercy, by way of acknowledgment of their receipt. Similarly the orders of the State Government by post shall be acknowledged at once by him in speed post in the post office. In every Fax or e-mail and letter of acknowledgment the Superintendent shall give the substance of the order acknowledged;
(i) all covers containing not only petitions for mercy but also all letters and acknowledgements in Capital sentence cases, shall be superscribed “Appeal for Mercy” and “Urgent” and shall be registered in the post office;
(j) all orders of the State Government postponing or staying execution of a condemned prisoner shall be in addition to any other mode of communication such as telephone or fax or e-mail, communicated at once to the Superintendent of the jail in which the condemned prisoner is confined in an envelope of scarlet colour with the words, “DEATH CASE” clearly printed on it at the top, the envelope shall be addressed to the Superintendent of the jail concerned by designation, the jail Superintendents shall make special भाग 4 (ग) राजस्ााू राज-पत्र दिसम् बर 12 2022 676 arrangements to ensure that communications received in these distinctive envelope are received in the jail at any time of the day or night, such envelopes shall be opened instantly on receipt, whether by day or night, by the Superintendent of the jail, if he is present or otherwise by the Jailor in charge, and an acknowledgement referring to the orders therein contained shall at once be dispatched to the State Government; and
(k) when the execution of a sentence of death is stayed under the rule above, the Superintendent of the jail, on receipt of orders from Government to execute the sentence, shall, if it is not possible to execute the sentence on the date fixed in the warrant of the Sessions Court, at once fix a fresh date for the execution which shall not be more than fourteen days after receipt of the orders of Government, and shall in no case be earlier than the date specified in the warrant of the Sessions Court and any postponement in the date fixed for the execution of a capital sentence shall be reported, without delay, to the Sessions Judge and the District Magistrate.
(3) The condemned prisoners also have a right to dignity and execution of death sentence cannot be carried out in a arbitrary, hurried and secret manner without allowing the convicts to exhaust all legal remedies.
(4) Where a convict sentenced to death is not in a position to offer a legal practitioner to defend, legal aid assistance must be provided to him in preferring appeal in the High Court, Supreme Court of India and mercy petition and these are essential procedural safeguards which must be observed if the right to life is not to be denuded of its meaning and content.
(5) Death convicts are entitled as a rights to receive a copy of the rejection of the mercy petition by the President and the Governor.