Devender Pal Singh, Dharmendra Singh, Krishna Mochi and ors vs State, N.C.T. of Delhi & another, State of Bihar

The Supreme Court, while dismissing the review petitions, held that the death sentence should be altered to life imprisonment in cases where the prosecution relies solely on confessional statements, which are deemed unreliable. The Court emphasized that the imposition of the death penalty must be restricted to the 'rarest of rare cases' as established in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab under Article 21 of the Constitution. The Court's holding resulted in the alteration of the death sentences to life imprisonment for the accused in the reviewed cases.