By- Nehan Virmani.
Supreme Court of Malawi, a land lock nation in South African Region on Friday, pronounced a bizarre judgment by reversing the original ruling about the ban on death penalty which was pronounced during April 2021 in the case of Charles Khoviwa v. The Republic.
In the original judgment which was heard during the month of April, the bench found that imposition of death penalty is contrary to the rights guaranteed under Constitution of Malawi. However, the ruling which is released in the month of August stated that the prior ruling of the case with the majority of 7 out of 9 judges distanced themselves from such ruling and further claimed that such judgment was passed without consultation of other eight judges preset in the bench proceeding.
While reversing the judgment on of the judge from the bench of Sitting stated that the prior ruling was irrelevant because the constitutionality of death penalty was not a part of the issues of that case.
Although, the recent reversal of judgment on ban on capital punishment has led to heavy criticism by common people and from legal fraternity as according to them such reversal of judgment has set a dangerous precedent which also raises doubt regarding the independence of judiciary of Malawi.
