The Supreme Court on Monday laid down a comprehensive set of guidelines to ensure the swift and efficient processing of mercy petitions by death-row convicts, marking a significant development in the legal framework surrounding capital punishment and underlining the adverse effects of delays on both the convicts and societal confidence in justice. The Supreme Court also directed state governments to frame office orders or executive guidelines outlining the standard operating procedures for dealing with mercy petitions. (HT Photo) In its landmark judgment, a bench comprising justices Abhay S Oka, Ahsanuddin Amanullah and AG Masih emphasised that delays in executing death sentences, particularly those arising from administrative inefficiencies, violate the fundamental rights of convicts under Article 21 of the Constitution. The ruling came while the court upheld a Bombay high court decision to commute the death sentences of two convicts in the 2007 Pune BPO rape and murder case to 35 years of imprisonment. The convicts, including the driver of the office cab, brutally assaulted and murdered a young woman after abducting her. They were initially …