Some of the recent decisions of the Supreme Court of India focussed attention on the question whether inordinate delay in the execution of death sentence can be considered to entitle the convict to claim commutation of the sentence to that of life imprisonment. The justification for such a commutation is said to be that the convict who has been subjected to prolonged agony and mental torture due to the fact that the Damocles' Sword of death has been hanging on him, deserved sympathy and consideration. The first of these cases is Vatheeswaran v. State of Tamil Nadu, AIR 1983 SC 361 (2): 1983 Cri LJ 481. In this case, it was held that a 2-year delay in the execution of death sentence was unfair and unreasonable and was violative of Art.21 of the Constitution which mandated that "no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except in accordance with the procedure established by law". In Sher Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 1983 SC 465 : 1983 Cri LJ 803, a ....