New Delhi, 10/12: The Supreme Court has said any inordinate and unreasonable delay in execution of death row convicts after rejection of mercy petitions will violate fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution and the court will be justified in commuting the penalty into life imprisonment.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Augustine George Masih said no hard and fast rule can be laid down as regards the length of delay, which can be said to be inordinate since it all depends on the facts of the case.