Anti-death penalty lawyers slammed for their unfair means—pnpj bench

Anti-death penalty lawyers slammed for their unfair means
Published: Mar 14,202104:22 AM

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Finding that the interim stay granted on the death warrant issued to a man convicted for kidnapping and murdering minor siblings in Coimbatore by a Mahila Court has been misused, the Madras High Court asked the anti-death penalty activist lawyers to achieve their objective by adopting fair means and not by foul methods.

Chennai: Manoharan was sentenced to death by the Mahila Court on November 1, 2012, which was confirmed by the High Court on March 24, 2014 and the Supreme court on November 7, 2019. Following the dismissal of the appeal, the trial court on November 18, 2019, issued a warrant to the Central Prison, Coimbatore, fixing the date of execution as December 2, 2019.
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The warrant was challenged on the basis that the sentence was being executed without giving him an opportunity to appeal for mercy. Conceding to it, the High Court on November 26, 2019, kept the death warrant in abeyance and directed Manoharan to submit the mercy plea within six weeks.

However, when it took up the case for final disposal on March 1, the division bench comprising Justice PN Prakash and Justice V Sivagnanam found that the plea was filed only that afternoon.

Taking strong exception and setting aside the contention that the trial court ought not have issued the warrant, the bench said, “In this case, the trial court has waited for the dismissal of not only the SLP but also the review petition. Thereafter, it cannot indefinitely wait for the prisoner to file a clemency petition.

“These activists will lose their credibility if they were to adopt sharp practices and tomorrow, their word will not carry weight with the courts. We do not want to say anything beyond this.”

Now that Manoharan has filed the mercy plea to the Governor on March 1, he would not be hanged till the petition is disposed of, the bench added.
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