Supreme Court Dismisses Centre's Plea for Victim-Centric Guidelines on Death Penalty

PTI, New Delhi, Oct 8, 2025 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the Centre's application for laying down victim and society-centric guidelines in heinous offence cases where the death penalty had been awarded. 

The matter was heard by a bench consisting of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N.V. Anjaria, who said, "We do not find any merit in this miscellaneous application," while rejecting the plea.

The Centre had moved the application in January 2020, arguing that the current guidelines were primarily accused and convict-centric. The government had proposed that the Court should also consider the interests of victims and society when awarding death penalties in heinous crimes. On January 31, 2020, the apex court agreed to examine the Centre's request and sought responses from various stakeholders. This was in relation to the guidelines established in the 2014 case Shatrughan Chauhan vs. Union of India, where the Supreme Court had laid down guidelines for the execution of death row convicts.

The Court had clarified that the issue in question, particularly related to the Shatrughan Chauhan case, would not be altered while dealing with the Centre’s plea. The Centre had argued that death penalties were typically awarded in cases that shook the collective conscience of the court, and it proposed that the court should now factor in the interests of victims and society.

The application contended that convicts in heinous crimes were "taking the judicial process for a ride." The Centre had urged the Court to fix a seven-day deadline for the execution of condemned prisoners after the issuance of the black warrant, citing the delay in the hanging of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape-murder case.

Despite the Centre’s request, the Court dismissed the plea, maintaining that no change was needed in the established guidelines.