Now Reading: Rajasthan High Court commutes 9 death sentences, acquits 2
-
01
Rajasthan High Court commutes 9 death sentences, acquits 2
The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur has disposed of all pending death-sentence reference cases, commuting nine death penalties and acquitting two convicts. The first reference in State Vs. Arjun Singh was decided…
The Story in Brief
The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur has disposed of all pending death-sentence reference cases, commuting nine death penalties and acquitting two convicts. The first reference in State Vs. Arjun Singh was decided on October 3, 2025. The remaining ten were decided this year, with the final verdict pronounced on August 6 by a division bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur and Justice Chandra. The livelaw.in report did not disclose the names of the acquitted or the reasons behind each ruling. The cases had been pending before the high court for confirmation of capital punishment awarded by lower courts.
The Indian Opinion
Headlines about death penalty commutations often fuel two lazy narratives: that courts are soft on heinous crimes, or that the system only works when death row is cleared. Neither fits here. The Rajasthan High Court disposed of all pending death references in one go, commuting nine and acquitting two. That suggests careful case-by-case review, not a blanket policy. The missing piece is the court’s reasoning, did it apply the 'rarest of rare' test strictly? Read the judgments when they become public. The number that will settle the question: how many of the 11 convicts had already spent 10-plus years on death row.
Source: livelaw.in
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
