<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">The Supreme Court today questioned the issuance of black warrants by trial courts for execution of death penalty even before the expiry of 60-day time period for filing of appeals in the apex court by the convicts.<br />''</span><br />''The top court's observation came during the hearing of an appeal, filed by death row convict Anil Surendra Singh Yadav, alleging that the black warrant was issued by a Gujarat sessions court just 33 days after his conviction was upheld by the high court.<br />''<br />''Yadav was convicted for rape and murder of a three-year old girl in 2018 in Surat. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde stayed the execution of Yadav's death warrant. The bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant, wondered as to how trial courts issue death warrants despite there being a reported judgement of the apex court, passed in 2015, that black warrants cannot be issued before the expiry of 60-day statutory period for filing an appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court verdict.<br />''<br />''The Chief Justice of India said, there has been a clamour on the delay in execution of death penalty in rape and murder cases and here a sessions court issued the death warrant before the expiry of the statutory period.<br />''<br />''<br />