New Delhi, (thestates.news) : The Constitution Bench will now hear the matter to decide the guidelines for the courts across the country under what circumstances the sentence with the maximum death penalty can be reduced. A bench headed by Chief Justice UU Lalit started the hearing taking cognizance of the matter. The Supreme Court wants that the convict should be given an opportunity in the lower court to put down the seriousness of his crime, so that the death penalty is given only in the rarest of rare cases. The court said that there are contradictory decisions on the matter of hearing the side of the accused before awarding the death sentence.
The court said that in the case of Bachchan Singh, the court has said that as per the recommendation of the 48th Law Commission, before awarding the death sentence, it had ordered to hear the side of the accused separately. The court said that it is necessary that there should be a clear guideline that before awarding the death sentence, the accused should get ample opportunity to present his case.(HS)
