On 16 June 2011 the Bombay High Court read section 31A of the NDPS Act so that the death sentence became discretionary rather than mandatory for repeat drug offences. The case was Gulam Mohammed Malik, sentenced to death in 2008 for a repeat charas offence; the court held that a mandatory death sentence without an individual sentencing hearing violated Article 21. It said a court could instead impose the enhanced sentence under section 31, which can run to 30 years.[1]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for India here.
References
- Indian Harm Reduction Network v Union of India, Bombay High Court, 16 June 2011Judgment, paras 1–4 and 81–89
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.