Views of victim's family on grant or denial of pardon to convicts have no legal value: Experts

The views of victim's family on whether to forgive or not the convicts in a criminal offence like the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case have no "legal value" as such offences are against the State, said legal experts on Saturday.

Senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Vikas Singh said the views of family members of a victim in a criminal case on grant or denial of pardon to convicts cannot be considered in a court of law.

"No. No. They (views of family member ) have no value actually and the courts have to go by the law. The prosecution is always done by the State and that is why it is always the State versus so and so. The criminal offence is always against the State," Dwivedi said.

Dwivedi said moreover "the fact is that the complainant (Nirbhaya's mother) is not agreeing to Indira Jaising's view that she should pardon the convicts like Sonia Gandhi".

Singh, a former Supreme Court Bar Association President, said, "Such views of the family members have no value. Absolutely no legal value. It cannot be used in any court of law."