Apex Court frames new rules for hearing review petitions of death row convicts

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that review plea of a death convict against the sentence will be heard in open court with lawyers allowed to advance arguments.
The top court held that review petition filed by a death convict should be heard by a three-judge bench.
The apex court allowed death convicts, whose review pleas have already been dismissed by it, to file fresh pleas for reopening of their cases within a month.
This means condemned prisoners will get an additional opportunity to question verdict against them.
In case a death convict’s curative petition has been decided, he should not file plea for reopening of his review petition, the court ruled.
A five-judge bench ruled with a 4-1 majority in favour of carving out an exception for condemned prisoners since their right to life was on the verge of being extinguished.
This order will provide an opportunity to condemned prisoners like Lal Quila terror attack death row convict Mohd Asfaq, Mumbai serial blast convict Yakub Memon, Sonu Sardar and many others to argue against death penalty.