SC QUESTIONS NHRC RECOMMENDATION FOR CLEMENCY TO DEATH ROW CONVICT

the Indian Supreme Court saw red over the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommending clemency to a condemned prisoner, terming it not a fit case for a life sentence. Ramdeo Chauhan was the awarded death penalty for murder by an Assam trial court and the conviction as well as sentence was upheld by the high court. A newspaper article mentioned that Chauhan was a juvenile at the time of committing the crime, and the NHRC recommended that the Assam government commute the sentence to life imprisonment. The Assam cabinet asked the governor in 2002, however a relative of the victim objected. A Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and A K Ganguly took serious objection to NHRC's meddling into the matter and asked how the Commission could exercise jurisdiction over the decisions of the apex court.