MAHINDRA NATH DAS vs UNION OF INDIA .

The Supreme Court addressed the issue of a 12-year delay in the disposal of a petition under Article 72 of the Constitution concerning the commutation of a death sentence to life imprisonment. The Court held that the delay was not sufficient to warrant commutation, affirming the principle that extreme crimes warrant extreme penalties, as established in Section 302 IPC. The Court upheld the death sentence, emphasizing that the case fell within the 'rarest of rare' category, and dismissed the appellant's plea for commutation.