ORDER

1. Leave granted.

2. It is submitted that original records of the case have been received from the Trial Court and the High Court. A copy of the translated records shall be supplied to the learned counsel for the parties, if not supplied earlier.

3. In view of the orders passed by this Court in matters involving capital punishment, we issue following directions:

i. The respondent-State shall place before this Court the report(s) of all the Probation Officers relating to the appellant within a period of eight (8) weeks.

ii. The Superintendent of Prison, Raipur Central Jail, shall submit a report with regard to the nature of work which has been performed by the appellant while in jail and a report with regard to the conduct and behaviour of the appellant while in jail, within a period of eight (8) weeks.

iii. The Head of the Post Graduate Institute of Behavioral & Medical Science, Raipur, shall constitute a suitable team for the purpose of carrying 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 Chhattisgarh within a period of eight (8) weeks.

iv. Ms. Simran Narula, who is associated with Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi, is allowed to provide mitigation assistance to the Court.

v. Ms. Simran Narula is permitted to have access to the appellant who is presently lodged in Raipur Central Jail to conduct multiple in-person interviews for the purpose of collecting information relevant to sentencing and to submit a Mitigation Investigation Report on behalf of the appellant through the appellant's Advocate-on-Record within ten (10) weeks.

vi. The Raipur Central Jail shall ensure that, for the sake of confidentiality, these interviews are conducted in a separate interviewing space without any prison official or police staff being within earshot distance, and audio recorders be permitted to be used to record the interviews.

vii. A person nominated by Ms. Simran Narula be permitted to accompany her to translate during the interview.

viii. Ms. Simran Narula is granted permission to obtain documents pertaining to the appellant, including but not limited to medical records, jail conduct, certificates of any educational, vocational or employment opportunities undertaken, etc. that the appellant may wish to submit for the purpose of sentencing information.

4. The Registry is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the Standing Counsel for the State of Chhattisgarh, who shall, in turn, ensure that the order is communicated to the relevant authorities for compliance. The Registry shall, in addition, send a due intimation to all the concerned authorities immediately for compliance.

5. All the reports shall be duly compiled and placed before this Court on the next date of hearing.

6. I.A. Nos.195353 & 195354 of 2022 are, accordingly, disposed of.

7. List these matters after twelve (12) weeks along with the report(s).