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Ramkirat Munilal Goud vs The State Of Maharashtra on 10 November, 2022

Author: Hima Kohli

Bench: Hima Kohli

     SLPR 5928-29/2022
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     ITEM NO.4                    COURT NO.1                  SECTION II-A

                         S U P R E M E C O U R T O F     I N D I A
                                 RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

     Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) Nos.5928-5929/2022

     (Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 25-11-2021
     in CC No.1/2019 25-11-2021 in CRA No.661/2019 passed by the High
     Court of Judicature at Bombay)


     RAMKIRAT MUNILAL GOUD                                      Petitioner(s)

                                          VERSUS

     THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA                                   Respondent(s)

     (With IA No.88363/2022-EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED
     JUDGMENT and IA No.88366/2022-EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. and IA
     No.88365/2022-EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT)


     Date : 10-11-2022 These petitions were called on for hearing today.


     CORAM :
                         HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
                         HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
                         HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA


     For Petitioner(s)       Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv.
                             Ms. Pratiksha Basarkar, Adv.
                             Ms. Stuti Raj, Adv.
                             Mr. Chandratanay Chaube, Adv.
                             Mr. Tushar Arora, Adv.
                             Ms. Fauzia Shakil, AOR

     For Respondent(s)

Signature Not Verified

Digitally signed by
CHETAN KUMAR
Date: 2022.11.10
17:55:23 IST
Reason:
SLPR 5928-29/2022
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             UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
                                 O R D E R

1 These proceedings arise from a judgment dated 25 November 2021 of a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in Confirmation Case No 1 of 2019 and Criminal Appeal No 661 of 2019. The High Court by its impugned judgment has confirmed the sentence of death awarded by the trial court to the accused and dismissed the criminal appeal instituted by the accused, confirming the conviction and sentence.

2 Leave granted.

3 The execution of the sentence of death shall remain suspended pending the hearing and final disposal of the appeals.

4 In Manoj and Others vs State of Madhya Pradesh 1, a three-Judge Bench of this Court issued guidelines for ensuring that a psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the accused is carried out in order to enable the court to have necessary background material to assess whether the imposition of the sentence of death is justified. The guidelines have been spelt out, inter alia, in paragraphs 227 to 230 of the judgment (reported in SCC Online).

5 A criminal miscellaneous petition 2 has been instituted for the purposes of seeking the following directions:

a. Grant permission to Ms. Nuriya Ansari to physically visit the Applicant herein, namely Ramkirat Munnilal Goud in Yerwada Central Jail, Pune and conduct multiple in-person interviews for the purpose of collecting information relevant to sentencing;

b. Grant permission to Ms. Nuriya Ansari to record the interviews conducted by means of an audio recorder in a separate interviewing space, or alternatively, grant permission to allow a person nominated 1 2022 SCC OnLine SC 677 2 CrlMP No 91490/2022 SLPR 5928-29/2022 3 by the said mitigation investigator to accompany her to take notes during the interview;

c. Direct that such interviews be confidential and be conducted without any prison or police staff at earshot distance;

d. Grant permission to Ms. Nuriya Ansari to obtain documents or other written material pertaining to the Applicant, including but not limited to medical records, jail conduct, certificates of any educational, vocational or employment opportunities undertaken, etc. that the Applicant may wish to submit for the purpose of sentencing information;

e. Direct the Respondent to implement video-conferencing facilities through the National Prisons Information Portal (NPIP) in Yerwada Central Prison, Pune, so that the Applicant can regularly interact with . his legal representatives using video-conference facilities;

6 The criminal miscellaneous petition has been instituted by Project 39A which is set up under the auspices of National Law University Delhi for providing pro bono legal representation particularly to convicts who have been sentenced to death. Ms Nuriya Ansari, who holds a Master’s degree in Applied Psychology from Amity University is working as a mitigating investigator at Project 39A.

7 The attention of the Court has been drawn to a set of directions which have been issued by this Court, inter alia, in Ganesh @ Pravin Popal Darandale vs State of Maharashtra3 and Prakash Vishwanath Darandale vs State of Maharashtra4, both on 19 October 2022.

8 We issue the following directions:

(i) The respondent-State shall place before this Court the report(s) of all the Probation Officers relating to the appellant within a period of eight weeks;

SLPR 5928-29/2022 4

(ii) The Superintendent of the Yerwada Central Jail shall submit a report in regard to the nature of work which has been performed by the appellant while in jail and a report in regard to the conduct and behaviour of the appellant while in jail within a period of eight weeks;

(iii) The Head of Sassoon General Hospital, Pune shall constitute a suitable team for the purpose of carrying out a psychological evaluation of the appellant. The report of the evaluation shall be submitted to this Court through the Standing Counsel for the State of Maharashtra within a period of eight weeks; and

(iv) Ms Nuriya Ansari is permitted to have access to the appellant who is presently lodged in Yerwada Central Jail, Pune to submit her report in regard to the psychological assessment of the appellant.

9 The Registry is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the Standing Counsel for the State of Maharashtra, who shall, in turn, ensure that the order is communicated to the relevant authorities for compliance. The Registry shall, in addition, send a due intimation to all the concerned authorities immediately for compliance.

10 All the reports shall be duly compiled and placed before this Court on the next date of hearing.

11 The original records of the case be summoned from the trial court. Translated copies shall be made available to all the counsel appearing on behalf of the contesting parties.

12 List the appeals after eight weeks.

               (CHETAN KUMAR)                                  (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR)
                A.R.-cum-P.S.                                  Assistant Registrar
SLPR 5928-29/2022
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