The Supreme Court today dismissed the petition filed by a former high court judge seeking a direction to Tihar Jail authorities to give an option to four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case to offer their bodies for medical research and donate their organs.
A bench comprising Justices R Banumathi and A S Bopanna said that by way of PIL you can’t seek such direction. If the convicts want to do it they can express such things by themselves or through their family members.
When the counsel for petitioner Justice (Retd.) Michael F Saldanna, former Judge of the Bombay High Court continued with the submission, the bench said the petition by a former judge was misconceived. The bench further said that organ donation has to be voluntary.
The petitioner had asked the apex court to consider the desirability of making it as a condition precedent in the case of all executions.
The four death-row convicts in the Nirbhaya case are Mukesh Kumar Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma and Akshay Kumar.
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