The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed an application filed by the Central government seeking the framing of additional victim and society-centric guidelines in cases involving the death penalty for heinous offences.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria heard the matter and observed, “We do not find any merit in this MA (miscellaneous application),” while rejecting the plea.

The Centre had filed the application in January 2020, arguing that the guidelines governing death penalty cases were predominantly accused- and convict-centric. It urged the Court to introduce provisions that also accounted for the interests of victims and society, especially in cases that “shake the collective conscience of the court.”

The application sought modifications to the directio

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