Judgement

The following observations were made by VISCOUNT SIMON L.C., delivering the judgment of the Board, at the conclusion of the hearing of thirteen petitions for special leave to appeal in criminal cases in forma pauperis The Judicial Committee has before it this morning thirteen petitions for special leave to appeal in criminal cases in forma pauperis. All the proposed appeals are from the High Court of Judicature at Lahore, which in each instance has confirmed the decision of a Sessions Judge sentencing the petitioner to death for murder. In each of these thirteen cases the papers before their Lordships include (as r. 8 of the Judicial Committee Rules requires) a certificate signed by counsel in India that the petitioner has reasonable grounds of appeal to this Board.

Their Lordships regret to find that, with the possible exception of the petition in the case of Rehmat v. The King-Emperor, there is no basis whatever on which a certificate could, or should, have been given expressing the opinion that there were grounds on which the petition could properly be presented. This is a very serious matter, not only because those who so certify are misusing their professional positi