Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
(1) Whenever a sentence of death has been passed by any court or tribunal, the sentence shall not be executed until after the dismissal of the appeal or the application or, in case no such appeal has been preferred, or no such application has been made, until after the expiry of the period allowed for an appeal or for making of such application: Provided that if the sentence of death has been passed on more than one person in the same case, and if an appeal or an application is made by or on behalf of only one or more but not all of them, the execution of the sentence shall be postponed in the case of all such convicts and not only in the case of the person or persons by whom, or on whose behalf, the appeal or the application has been made. (2) If a convict submits a mercy petition within the stipulated period, it shall be addressed to the Governor of the State and the President of India. The execution of sentence shall in all cases be postponed pending receipt of their orders. HARYANA GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA.), DEC. 30, 2022 (PAUS. 9, 1944 SAKA) 1295 (3) The petition shall in the first instance be sent to the State Government for consideration and orders of the Governor. If after consideration it is rejected, then it shall be forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. (4) If the convict submits the petition after the stipulated period, it shall be within the discretion of the State Government to consider the petition and to postpone execution pending such consideration and also to withhold or not to withhold the petition addressed to the President. However, the petition shall be forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs for consideration of the President of India, in the following circumstances, namely :- (a) if the sentence of death was passed by an Appellate Court in an appeal against acquittal or as a result of an enhancement of sentence by such Court, whether on its own motion or on an application for enhancement of sentence; or (b) when there are any circumstances about the case which in the opinion of the State Government, render it desirable that the President shall have an opportunity of considering it, as in cases of political character and those in which, for any special reason considerable public interest has been aroused. NOTE.- When the petition is forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, the execution shall simultaneously be postponed pending receipt of orders of the President thereon. (5) If it is decided to commute the sentence of death by the Government or the Governor, the petition addressed to the President of India shall be withheld and an intimation of the fact shall be sent to the petitioner. NOTE.- The petition made, in cases where the sentence of death is for an offence against any law exclusively relatable to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends, shall not be considered by the State Government but shall forthwith be forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. (6) A petition submitted by a convict shall be withheld by the Government if a petition containing a similar prayer has already been submitted to the President. When a petition is so withheld the petitioner shall be informed of the fact and the reason for withholding it. (7) In all cases in which a petition for mercy from a convict under sentence of death is to be forwarded to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, or the President, the State Government shall forward such petition as expeditiously as possible along with the records of case and its observations in respect of any of the grounds urged in the petition. In the case the State Government had previously rejected any petition addressed to itself or the Governor, it shall also forward a brief statement of the reasons for the rejection of the previous petition or petitions. (8) Upon the receipt of the orders of the President, an acknowledgment shall be sent to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs immediately. If the petition is rejected, the orders shall be communicated by electronic means and receipt thereof shall be acknowledged by electronic means. Orders commuting the death sentence shall be communicated by electronic means and receipt thereof shall be acknowledged electronically. (9) When the State Government or Governor or President declines mercy, the Superintendent shall communicate the orders to the court concerned with details and shall request it to fix a date for executing the prisoner as per court sentence. NOTE.- In case all the options of appeal or mercy get exhausted, all other court appearances of the prisoner condemned with a death sentence shall be barred in other cases whatsoever (10) In the event of it coming to the knowledge of the Superintendent at any time before the execution of the sentence that altogether exceptional circumstances have arisen which per se demand a reconsideration of the sentence, he shall be at liberty, notwithstanding anything in the foregoing clauses, to report the circumstances by electronic means to the State Government and ask for its orders and to defer execution till they are received. In such instances, the assistance of the District Legal Services Authority may be sought. (11) There shall be a gap of a minimum of fourteen days between the rejection of the mercy petition and the scheduled date of execution to enable the convict to prepare himself and settle his affairs and meet his family members for one last time or to avail any judicial remedy. (12) Legal aid, if sought, shall be provided to the convict at all stages even after the rejection of a mercy petition. 1296 HARYANA GOVT. GAZ. (EXTRA.), DEC. 30, 2022 (PAUS. 9, 1944 SAKA) Communication to have special marking.