Senior advocate Anand Grover has questioned the Supreme Court’s rejection of the review petition of Surendra Koli, convicted and sentenced to death for the Nithari killings during 2005-06, without waiting for the judgment of a Constitution Bench on death sentence review petitions.
“Barely 10 days before Koli’s review petition was dismissed, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court was hearing the issue whether a review petition arising out of a judgment where the death sentence had been upheld or awarded by the Supreme Court should not be mandatorily heard in open court, Mr. Grover said in a statement. The Supreme Court, in that case, had reserved judgment. It was possible that it would decide not to grant oral hearing as a matter of routine in appeals involving the death penalty. But likewise, it may conclude that the review petition of a person sentenced to death and affirmed by the SC must be routinely heard in open court, and by at least three judges. “If that happens,” Mr. Grover said, “the order passed in review in Koli’s case would be incorrect.”
