The Supreme Court will begin hearing on 40 death penalty cases from Tuesday. A circular in this regard was issued by the court on Wednesday (September 1), stating that these cases will be listed before three-judge benches starting September 7. The cases include the one related to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Mohammad Arif.

Arif alias Ashfaq has been convicted in the 2000 Red Fort attack case in which three people, including two Army jawans, were killed.

The list also includes four review petitions of convicts whose appeals were dismissed by the apex court after upholding death penalty. Several cases are appeals filed by the accused whose death penalty was confirmed by the respective high courts.

The Supreme Court had earlier issued a fresh Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to accord final hearing of cases in physical mode from September 1 and said it will employ a hybrid option from Tuesday to Thursday with strict observance of Covid-19 norms. The SOP, issued by the Secretary General on August 28, had made it clear that the courts would keep hearing miscellaneous cases through virtual mode on Mondays and Fridays.

The apex court has been hearing cases through video-conferencing since March last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and several bar bodies and lawyers have been demanding that physical hearings should resume immediately.

(With inputs from agencies)