Therefore, I feel that this Constitution should provide for three things: firstly, there must be an appeal as a matter of right in cases where the High Court deciding the case certifies that the case is a fit one for appeal; secondly, there must be a provision where in appeal or revision a sentence of death is passed by the High Court for the first time, there shall be a right of appeal as a matter of course; thirdly, Parliament shall have power to make provisions for appeal in other cases. If Dr. Ambedkar’s amendment No. 24 along with the amendments moved by Mr. Jaspat Roy Kapoor, No. 39, and similar amendments moved by Mr. Karimuddin, amendment No. 40, and the last amendment moved by Dr. Bakhshi Tek Chand, are accepted, I think the public will be satisfied and the Constitution would have made enough provision for criminal appeals. I personally feel that in these two cases, namely, where a sentence of death is passed for the first time by the High Court, and where the High Court certifies that the case is a fit one for appeal, there cannot be any doubt that an appeal shall be allowed. The argument of those who want to leave it to Parliament to make provision for criminal appeals is this, that the matter requires to be discussed in detail and that this House is not in a position to enumerate exhaustively those cases in which an appeal may lie to the Supreme Court. There is some substance in this, but not entire substance. Because, if there are cases wherein there cannot be any doubt as to the necessity or even the desirability for appeal, there is no reason why such cases should be left to Parliament to pass an enactment subsequently. My submission would be that in so far as these two cases are concerned, where a death sentence is passed for the first time by the High Court, and where a case is certified as a fit one by the High Court, there cannot by any doubt that an appeal shall be allowed in such cases, and there is no reason why in such cases the Constitution should remain silent while it has made provisions in regard to civil cases. My submission is that this House should accept amendment No. 24 and the three amendments moved by my honourable Friends Messrs. Karimuddin, Jaspat Roy Kapoor and Dr. Bakhshi Tek Chand.
