IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA

AT CHANDIGARH

1.

LPA-1395-2019 (O&M)

Vikram Singh @ Vicky Walia

....Appellant

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

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2.

LPA-1397-2019 (O&M)

Jasbir Singh @ Jassa

....Appellant

Versus

State of Punjab and others

...Respondents

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Reserved on: 22.09.2025

Pronounced on : 19.12.2025

Uploaded on: 31.12.2025

Whether only operative part of the judgment is pronounced or the

full judgment is pronounced :Full Judgment

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CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR MISHRA

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ROHIT KAPOOR

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Present: Ms. Gursharan Kaur Mann, Senior Advocate, assisted by

Ms. Armandeep Kaur Sidhu, Advocate

Mr. Sanjeev Sharma, Advocate

Mr. Anmol Jeevan Singh Gill, Advocate

Mr. Arshjot S. Moni, Advocate for the appellant(s).

Ms. Samdisha Kaur, AAG, Punjab.

Ms. Divya Sharma, Senior Panel Counsel,

for the applicant/respondent No.4-UOI.

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ROHIT KAPOOR, J.

“Every life deserves a certain amount of dignity,

no matter how poor or damaged the shell that carries it.”

(Rick Bragg, American Journalist & Writer.)

“Mercy to the guilty, is cruelty to the innocent.”

(Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher.)

Infringement of rights of the Appellants under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, viz-a-viz, that of the victim and his family, requires adjudication in the present Appeals, which are being decided together by way of a common judgement.

Challenge Raised:

1. The Appellants have been held guilty of kidnapping and subsequently murdering a Sixteen year old young student, in a gruesome manner, since ransom was not paid. They approached the writ court under Articles 226 of the Constitution of India, by jointly filing CWP No.21274 of 2016, after rejection of their mercy petitions, on the ground of infringement of their rights under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and prayer was made for commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment and for quashing of the death warrants. The learned Single Judge, vide its judgment dated 26.07.2019, has dismissed the petition, leading to filing of the above-mentioned individual appeals by the appellants, under clause X of the Letters Patent Act.

Factual Matrix:

2. The essential facts and chronology of events are extracted hereunder in a tabular form, for the ease of reference:

14.02.2005 Abhi Verma alias Harry, a boy aged 16 years was kidnapped. His father received a call from a kidnapper, demanding Rs. 50 lacs. The police authorities were informed and the three accused i.e. the appellants and Sonia, i.e. the wife of the appellant-Jasbir Singh, were Findings of the learned Single Judge

3. The learned Single Judge, after noticing the essential facts and rival contentions of the parties, considered the grounds of inordinate delay, solitary confinement, and procedural lapses, raised by the Appellants-Petitioners. On the question of delay, the period from 11.10.2012 till ultimate rejection of the mercy petitions, was not considered as inordinate or unreasonable delay, or attributable to the respondents. It was also held that filing of mercy petition is a matter of individual choice, which was not exercised by the appellants till issuance of interim directions on 11.10.2012.

4. As regards the aspect of solitary confinement, the learned Single Judge by placing reliance upon the reply dated 24.10.2016, wherein it was stated that the appellants were kept in an enclosure called ‘32 Chakkis’ alongwith 34 other inmates, held that the appellants- petitioners have failed to substantiate assertions in this regard. The ground of procedural irregularities also do not find favour and it was held that after the dismissal of the review petitions, no judicial or administrative remedy was availed by the appellants other than challenging the vires of Section 364-A of the Indian Penal Code before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, which was withdrawn on 02.05.2012 and it was only thereafter when the death warrants were issued on 15.09.2012. Similarly, the death warrants were issued on 27.09.2016, when no judicia