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A Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Hemant Gupta commuted death penalty awarded to a man convicted for murder of three persons in the case of Chhannu Lal Verma v State of Chhattisgarh while observing that before awarding death sentence a proper psychological evaluation is to be done by courts to assess probability and possibility of reform of the criminal.
The bench took note of various judgments including Bacchan Singh. Taking note of accused acquittal in a rape case, the bench said: “The fact that the appellant had no previous criminal record apart from the acquittal in the Section 376, IPC, which was a false implication and the alleged motive did not weigh with the High Court as an important mitigating circumstance with respect to the criminal.” The Court issued that while imposing death penalty, the person’s capability of reformation and rehabilitation should also be taken into consideration.
The bench advised the prosecution: “In the matter of probability and possibility of reform of a criminal, we do not find that a proper psychological/psychiatric evaluation is done. Without the assistance of such a psychological/psychiatric assessment and evaluation it would not be proper to hold that there is no possibility or probability of reform.”
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