In a majority judgment, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a fresh hearing of the review petition filed by three death row convicts in the case of the 2000 Dharmapuri bus burning, in which three college girls were killed.
Their petition was one of the writ petitions on which the Bench held that the convicts seeking a review would be given a “limited oral hearing” by a three-judge Bench.
The petitions had challenged the constitutional validity of the judges hearing and dismissing review petitions by “circulation” — in chambers — rather than in open court, with the convict allowed to make oral arguments. The 4:1 verdict, penned by Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman for the Bench led by Chief Justice R.M. Lodha, said the petition by Nedunchezhian, Ravindran and Muniappan should be heard “as soon as possible” by a three-judge Bench as it had been pending since 2010.
The Bench said a “maximum” of 30 minutes should be given to counsel for the convicts.
The case relates to the death of Kokilavani, Gayathri and Hemalatha of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, when the bus in which they were travelling along with 44 other students and two teachers were torched by the convicts on February 2, 2000, after the conviction of AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa in a criminal case. In January 2011, the Supreme Court stayed the sentence.
In the same judgment, the Bench decided not to re-open the proceedings in the case of Pakistani national Mohammed Arif alias Ashfaq, sentenced to death for the 2000 Red Fort attack, which killed three armymen.
It said a curative petition filed by the convict was dismissed on January 23 this year. The court rejected the convict’s arguments that he had spent over 13 years in jail, suffering a double punishment of life and death sentences.
