"There can be no justification for the execution of a prisoner after much delay." warns the Supreme Court in India

In India, Judges who inspected a jail where executions are carried out, have first hand knowledge of the agony and horror that a condemned prisoner is subjected to every day.

Reviewing the situation of 26 mercy petitions submitted to the President of India, the Supreme Court has noted that some of the condemned had been on death row for decades.

"In addition to the solitary confinement and lack of privacy with respect to even daily ablutions, the rattle on the cell door heralding the arrival
of the Jailor with the prospect [of his being] the harbinger of bad news, a condemned prisoner lives a life of uncertainty and defeat," the court observed.

As reported in the Times of India, the judges noted specifically that:

. A prisoner, who has been living under a sentence of death for 15 years or more is engulfed in fear as his life hangs in balance and in the hands of those who have no personal interest in his case and to whom he is only a name.

. The family of condemned prisoners remain in a state of limbo and are unable to get on with life due to the uncertain fate their loved one.

. the situation leads to indifference developing in the family, brought about by a combination of resignation, exhaustion and despair.

"There can be no justification for the execution of a prisoner after much delay." warned the Supreme Court. In its ruling the bench even suggested that the failure in taking timely decisions on mercy pleas of condemned prisoners may allow them and their relatives to seek commutation of their death penalties into life terms.

Aware of allegations and counter-allegations hurled around in political circles over delays in deciding mercy pleas, some of which have been pending for over a decade, the SC said:
"We must say with the greatest emphasis that human beings are not chattels (property or slave) and should not be used as pawns in furthering some
larger political or government policy." cautioning the governement that any delay in decisions would amount to a violation of condemned prisoners' right to life with dignity under Article 21 of the constitution owing to "dehumanizing effects of the lengthy imprisonment prior to the execution".

Reprieve can only acknowledge the fact that living on death row for a time which often amounts to decades is torture. It is not only cruel but also dehumanizing. That is also one of the reasons why the death penalty should be abolished.