Case Title: RAMKIRAT MUNILAL GOUD v. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
A death row inmate's execution was recently stayed by the Supreme Court, and a representative of the Project 39A of the National Law University Delhi was permitted to see the inmate being held in Pune's Yerwada Jail for his psychiatric and psychological evaluation.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, Justice Hima Kohli, and Justice J. B. Pardiwala granted the criminal miscellaneous petition filed by Project 39A, which was established under the aegis of National Law University Delhi to provide pro bono legal representation, particularly to death row convicts.
The petition requested that Ms Nuriya Ansari of Project 39A be granted permission to personally visit the convict Ramkirat Munnilal Goud in Yerwada Central Jail and conduct multiple in-person interviews for the objective of gathering data and documenting the interviews to be used in the sentencing. Ms Ansari is a mitigating investigator with Project 39A and has a master's degree in Applied Psychology.
Permission was sought to keep the interviews confidential and to allow Ms Ansari to receive documents or other written information relevant to the applicant, as well as to direct the Respondents to set up video conferencing facilities for the applicant to communicate with the legal representation.
The Supreme Court granted leave in the Special Leave Petition and ordered the original case records in the matter to be produced. In light of the decision in Manoj v. State of Madhya Pradesh, in which guidelines were provided for the psychological assessment of a death row defendant, the Court issued the following instructions:
1. "The respondent-State shall place before this Court the report(s) of all the Probation Officers relating to the appellant within eight weeks.
2. The Superintendent of the Yerwada Central Jail shall submit a report concerning the nature of work which has been performed by the appellant while in jail and a report concerning the conduct and behaviour of the appellant while in jail within eight weeks.
3. The Head of Sassoon General Hospital, Pune shall constitute a suitable team to carry out a psychological evaluation of the appellant. The report of the evaluation shall be submitted to this Court through the Standing Counsel for the State of Maharashtra within eight weeks.
4. Ms Nuriya Ansari is permitted to have access to the appellant who is presently lodged in Yerwada Central Jail, Pune to submit her report concerning the psychological assessment of the appellant."