The Supreme Court allowed the review petition of death row convict Mohammad Arif to be heard in an open court. Arif was sentenced to death for his role in the December 2000 Red Fort terror attack killing 3 people. A Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur modified the apex court’s verdict , It said that in cases where the execution of a convict is pending, but review petitions are dismissed in chamber, an open hearing could take place. Arif had submitted that his case fell in a solitary category as both his review and curative petitions were dismissed before the apex court came out with the crucial verdict in September 2014. The court, through this judgement, introduced many changes to the norms governing appeals in death sentence cases. One such change was to do away with chamber hearings and instead decide appeals by a three-judge bench in an open court. In 2011, the Supreme Court had upheld Arif’s death sentence. However, in April 201...
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