JOSEPH PETER versus STATE OF GOA, DAMAN AND DIU

Citation: [1977] 3 S.C.R. 771 · Decided: 04-05-1977 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: V.R. KRISHNA IYER · Disposal: Dismissed

Cited by 2 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

; 
• 
JOSEPH PETER 
v. 
STAIB OF GOA, DAMAN AND DIU 
May 4, 1977 
[V. R. KRISHNA IYER AND JASWANT SINGH, JJ.J 
771 
C'rirninal Procedure Code, .1973. (Act II of 1974), Section 354(3)-Discre-
tionary power to choose fretween capital sentence and life tenn is 
a 
limited 
one-Leai·e should. be. refused when it is difficult to fault the court which has 
lXercised such a po_w~er under Art. 136 of the Constitution. 
Crifninal Procedure Code, 1898, Section 377-Scope of . 
A' 
B 
. .Goa, 
Daman 
and Diu (Judicial 
Commissioner's 
Court) 
Regulation. 
1963-Regulation 8(1) does 1wt bar the referred jurisdiction of the 
Judicial 
C 
Com1nissioner's Court. 
-
-
Sentence-Extenuating 
circumstances--Circumstance 
that 
the 
accused 
is a young man or that the sentence of death has been haunting him for 
long 
alone cannot entitle him for judicial cle1ne11cy. 
-
The petitioner was convicted for the offence of murder under s. 302, I.P.C. 
and sentenced to death by the Trial Court. The Judicial Commissioner, Goa 
confirmed the death sentence in the referred trial under s. 374 of the 1898 Code 
of Criminal Procedure. 
Dismissing the special leave petition to appeal, the Court. 
D. 
RELD ·:- ( 1) ·Discretion to choose between the capital sentence 
and 
life 
term under s. 354(3) of the 1973 Code of Criminal Procedure is limited. -Jf 
the offence ha&-- been perpetrated with attendant aggravating circumstances, if 
the pefpetrator disclOses· an eXtremely depraved state of mind and 
diabolical 
E 
trickery in committing. the homicide; accompanied by brutal dealing with the 
cadaver, infliction of death Penalty 'cannot be avoided. Special 
leave 
under 
Art. 136 of the Constitution cannot be· granted when it is difficult to fault the 
court on any ground, statutory ~-precedent~al. {772 G-H, 773 A] 
Ediga Annamma, .AIR 1974 SC. 799, referred to. 
(2) Section 377 of· 1g9g Code ot Criminal Procedure apPlies only to situa-
tions where the court at the lime of the confirmation of the death sentence 
F 
consists of two or "more Judges.. Section 4(1)(i:). of the -Code 
of Criminal 
Procedure, in relation to a Unfon ·Tetritory,y brings within the 
definition 
of 
"High Court'', the highest coilrt of c.riminal -appeal for that area, namely, the 
Judicial Commissioner's Court. 
If, at the time the case for confirmation 
of 
death sentence is being heard, the Judicial ·commissioner's Court consists of 
more than one Judge, at least two Judges must attest the confirmation. So 
long as one Judicial Commissioner alone functions in the Court, section 
377 
\:i;'as not attracted. In the present case there is nothing illegal in a single (i.e. 
G. 
the only) Judicial Com.missioner deciding the reference. [773 D-FJ 
(3) Referral jurisdiction under s. 377 is akin to appeal and 
revision. 
Regulation 8 ( 1) of the Goa, Daman and Diu (Judicial Commissioner's Court) 
Reglllation 1963 does not disentitle the Judicial Commissioner from exercising 
pov,rer _ u/s. 377, Cr.P.C. In the instant case, th<! Judicial Commissioner's con-
firrria!i~n of death sen!ence is not without jurisdiction. [774 C-D] 
(4) -Judici:al clemency cannot attenuate the sentence .of death on the· sole 
1:1 
circumstance that the accused was. a. young man and the sentence · of death 
been hauruing him fo~ .long withop.t pther supple_ment f~ctors or ~n th~ face of 
surrounding beastly Clfcumstarices of the crone. 
Possibly, P~es1dential power 
wider but judicial powecis :erriba"ked. (774 E;F] 
I0-7Q7SCI/77 
772 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
(1977] 3 $.C.R. 
A' 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Special 
Leave 
Petitiqn 
(Criminal) No. 216/1977. 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
(From the Judgment and Order dated 28-9-1973 of the Judicial 
Commissioner, Court, Goa Daman and Diu in Crl. Appeal No. 
\ 
17 /72). 
S. J. S. Fernadez, amicus curiae, for· the petitioner. 
The Order of the Court was delivered by 
KRISHNA IYER, J.-A death sentence, with all its dreadful scenario 
of swinging desper,.tely out of the last breath of mortal life, is 
an 
excrutiating hour for the judges called upon to lend signature to this 
macabre stroke of the executioner's rope. 
Even so, judges 
must 
enforce the Jaws, whatever they be, and decide according to the best 
of their lights, but the Jaws, are not always just and the lights 
are 
not always luminous. 
Nor, again, are judicial methods always ade-
quate to secure justice. 
We are bound by the Penal Code and the 
Criminal Procedure Code, by the very oath of our office. 
Section 

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