Yes, No, It’s Complicated | Is it time to abolish the death penalty?
6 years, 3 months ago

Yes, No, It’s Complicated | Is it time to abolish the death penalty?

The Hindu  

YES | Yug Mohit Chaudhry The death penalty is error-ridden, arbitrarily imposed and unfairly targets the poor As a punishment, the death penalty makes no sense: how does killing a person who has killed a person show that killing is wrong? Constitutional, legal and policy issues cannot be determined by the victim’s understandable hunger for revenge without leading to a frenzy where the death penalty is demanded, as it often is, for wholly inappropriate cases. Herein comes the first defence of the death penalty: India’s neighbourhood is not peaceful, unlike Scandinavia, and it does not form a supranational conglomerate of nations that facilitate common growth, unlike the European Union. In 1962, the Law Commission supported the death penalty stating that India’s particular circumstances were such that it could not “experiment” with its abolition. As the recent Death Penalty India Report by the National Law University, Delhi, indicates, the structural flaws in our criminal procedure and criminal justice system are most pronounced in death penalty cases.

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History of this topic

Colonial legacy of death penalty still continuing in India, says Chelameswar
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Colonial legacy of death penalty still continuing in India, says Chelameswar

The Hindu  

Referring to the indiscriminate hanging of freedom fighters by the British during the freedom movement, former judge of the Supreme Court J. Chelameswar has expressed discontentment over the continuing colonial legacy of awarding capital punishment by hanging till death. The event was organised by the All-India Democratic Students Organisation, All-India Democratic Youth Organisation, All-India Mahila Samskritik Sanghatan, Avishkar Progressive Cultural …

Capital Punishment An Exception; Even In Cases Of Multiple Murders, Avoid Death Sentence If There's Possibility Of Reform : Supreme Court
2 months ago

Capital Punishment An Exception; Even In Cases Of Multiple Murders, Avoid Death Sentence If There's Possibility Of Reform : Supreme Court

Live Law  

Recently, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a man for murdering his wife and four minor daughters but commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment without remission, citing a lack of criminal antecedents, prison reports indicating reform potential, and precedents against the death penalty in multiple-murder cases.The Court added that even in cases involving multiple murders, no. Recently, the …

Current Scenario On Death Penalty In Light Of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
2 months, 2 weeks ago

Current Scenario On Death Penalty In Light Of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Live Law  

India has in the past voted against a draft resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on the abolition of the death penalty. As per Sec 22 of BNSS, a sentence of death may be passed by: A High Court A Sessions Judge or Additional Sessions Judge subject to the confirmation by the High Court. EXECUTION OF DEATH SENTENCE Chapter …

Parliamentary panel on criminal law Bill leaves decision on death penalty to Centre
1 year, 4 months ago

Parliamentary panel on criminal law Bill leaves decision on death penalty to Centre

The Hindu  

The proposed Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, 2023 that seeks to replace the British-era Indian Penal Code has increased the number of crimes which can attract the death penalty from 11 to 15, according to a parliamentary panel report published last week. According to the panel’s report, the domain experts consulted by the committee “deliberated at great length about the need …

Evolution of jurisprudence around capital punishment, its procedures
1 year, 11 months ago

Evolution of jurisprudence around capital punishment, its procedures

Hindustan Times  

The Supreme Court last month decided to test the validity of hanging by the neck as the method of executing death sentence in India, stating that the method can be declared unconstitutional if there is scientific material favouring a different method of execution as less painful and “more consistent with human dignity”. Over the years, there has been a constant …

Indian-origin minister about to scrap mandatory death sentence in THIS nation I DETAILS
1 year, 11 months ago

Indian-origin minister about to scrap mandatory death sentence in THIS nation I DETAILS

India TV News  

Malaysia's Parliament on Monday approved a bill that would scrap mandatory death penalties and limit capital punishment to serious crimes as part of wide-ranging reforms, bringing possible reprieves to more than 1,300 prisoners on death row. While the death sentence remains, courts will now be given the option of imposing jail sentences of up to 40 years, Deputy Law Minister …

Abolition is the way: The Hindu Editorial on the higher judiciary’s move on the death penalty
2 years ago

Abolition is the way: The Hindu Editorial on the higher judiciary’s move on the death penalty

The Hindu  

Forty years after holding that the mode of executing prisoners by hanging cannot be termed too cruel or barbaric, the Supreme Court of India has now ventured to find out if there is a more dignified and less painful method to carry out death sentences. The idea of finding an alternative mode of execution, one considered less painful and involves …

Uphold dignity in death penalty
2 years ago

Uphold dignity in death penalty

Hindustan Times  

There are layers upon layers in the judicial debate on capital punishment — the efficacy and ethics of administering the death penalty, the adequacy of procedural safeguards, the choice of the most humane way to execute a person, and even the moral argument — but at its heart rests the motivation to safeguard the dignity of the life that is …

165 Death Sentences Awarded By Trial Courts In 2022, Highest Ever In A Year Since 2000 : Project 39A Report
2 years, 2 months ago

165 Death Sentences Awarded By Trial Courts In 2022, Highest Ever In A Year Since 2000 : Project 39A Report

Live Law  

In 2022, trial courts imposed the largest number of death sentences in a single year since 2000 while the death row population was the highest it has been since 2004. Overview of Death Sentences In 2022, trial courts imposed death sentences on 165 persons - the largest number of death sentences imposed in a single year in over two decades …

Why India needs a rethink before expanding scope of death penalty
2 years, 4 months ago

Why India needs a rethink before expanding scope of death penalty

Firstpost  

It is crystal clear the graph of number of death sentences dips amazingly as the cases get referred up Put yourself in the shoes of a rape and murder victim’s parents. But while the Delhi High Court had given the death punishment calling the accused “predators”, the Supreme Court exonerated all three defendants for the 2012 rape and murder of …

The death penalty and humanising criminal justice
2 years, 5 months ago

The death penalty and humanising criminal justice

The Hindu  

As a conservative agency of the state, the Supreme Court of India is ordinarily expected to tread the path laid out by the written text of law and the binding precedents. On policies and uniformity The focus here is on reframing ‘Framing Guidelines Regarding Potential Mitigating Circumstances to be Considered While Imposing Death Sentences’, a decision authored by the three …

DC Edit | SC move to set guidelines on death penalty welcome
2 years, 6 months ago

DC Edit | SC move to set guidelines on death penalty welcome

Deccan Chronicle  

The decision of the Supreme Court to set up a Constitution Bench to lay down guidelines for the courts on providing a convict a real and meaningful hearing before deciding on a death penalty is a refreshing step that will further civilise the criminal justice delivery system in our country. The only protection a person can have against incarceration or …

The death penalty must always be under debate
2 years, 6 months ago

The death penalty must always be under debate

Live Mint  

Should a state have the legal power to take a person’s life? In many cases, the court noted, trial courts pronounce a sentence on the very day of conviction, thus allowing too little time for the accused to make a case for a lighter burden. The apex court has referred the matter to a five-judge Constitution bench, asking it to …

Death Penalty Sentencing in India's Trial Courts: Confusion in the Apex Court Wreaks Havoc in Courts Below
4 years, 10 months ago

Death Penalty Sentencing in India's Trial Courts: Confusion in the Apex Court Wreaks Havoc in Courts Below

Live Law  

Project 39A has released a report titled DeathPenalty Sentencing in Trial Courts: Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra containing findings from a study of all capital cases decided by trial courts of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra between 2000 and 2015. Contrary to the Constitution Bench decision in Bachan Singh which emphasised the relevance of mitigating factors in capital sentencing, trial …

Situating Death Penalty Discourse Beyond Abolition-Retention Discourse
5 years ago

Situating Death Penalty Discourse Beyond Abolition-Retention Discourse

Live Law  

A sufficiently just and analytically coherent system of criminal law is an unrealistic expectation- Allen Norrie As was expected, the hanging of the convicts in Nirbhaya gang rape case has evoked sharp reactions and criticism from several quarters including the Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists and the United Nations. The quest of justice varies significantly and there may …

Nirbhaya case :Human Rights activists "cry foul" after rapists are executed
5 years ago

Nirbhaya case :Human Rights activists "cry foul" after rapists are executed

Op India  

Following the execution of the convicts involved in the brutal gangrape and murder of 23-year-old physiotherapy student in 2012 who was named “Nirbhaya” by the media, several self-proclaimed human rights activists assumed moral high ground and dubbed the death penalty handed out to the convicts as an act of revenge. #Nirbhaya https://t.co/tWHlKA2Zh9 — Mohd Mojahid March 20, 2020 Citing the …

'Death Penalty Does Nothing To Improve Lives Of Women' : International Rights Bodies Condemn Execution In Nirbhaya Case
5 years ago

'Death Penalty Does Nothing To Improve Lives Of Women' : International Rights Bodies Condemn Execution In Nirbhaya Case

Live Law  

The International Commission of Jurists and the Amnesty International-India have condemned the execution of four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case. "The death penalty is never the solution and today's resumption of executions adds another dark stain to India's human rights record. 140 countries, more than two-thirds of the world's countries, around the world have abolished the death …

Delhi gangrape: With courts evoking 'collective conscience' in handing death penalty, it's time we examined our own
5 years ago

Delhi gangrape: With courts evoking 'collective conscience' in handing death penalty, it's time we examined our own

Firstpost  

When the French sociologist David Émile Durkheim articulated the concept of the ‘collective conscience’, he made it a point to say he wasn’t defining it as a shared moral conscience between people. Already we had been told that prisoners from the Buxar Central Jail have spun the rope that fulfills the mandate of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 which …

Continuing debate
5 years, 1 month ago

Continuing debate

The Hindu  

THE delay in the hanging of the convicts in the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapist in December 2012 has been a matter of intense discussion. While recommending partial abolition of the death penalty in 2015, the Law Commission, based on National Crime Records Bureau figures, concluded that murder rates were falling and, correspondingly, the rate of execution …

Time has come for India to kill death penalty
5 years, 10 months ago

Time has come for India to kill death penalty

Firstpost  

In a country where people die of heat waves, extreme cold, homelessness, hunger, malnutrition and extrajudicial executions, abolishing the death penalty is going to be a challenge because life is so devalued. The Delhi gang rape case and the Kathua rape case saw death penalty being extended to non-homicide offences amid a clamour for harsher punishments. It is evident that …

SC Acquits Six Men to Whom It Had Given Death Sentence in 2009
6 years ago

SC Acquits Six Men to Whom It Had Given Death Sentence in 2009

The Quint  

The judgment of the court could have far-reaching consequences because it was a complete U-turn on the decision originally taken by the Supreme Court itself 10 years ago. The legal error made by Justice Pasayat in the 2009 decision had been made in six other cases, and there was a significant issue with contrasting death penalty decisions during his tenure …

Abolition Of Death Penalty By Several Countries Not A Ground To Efface It From The Statute Book Of Our Country: SC [Read Judgment]
6 years, 8 months ago

Abolition Of Death Penalty By Several Countries Not A Ground To Efface It From The Statute Book Of Our Country: SC [Read Judgment]

Live Law  

‘So far the death penalty remains in the Penal Code the Courts cannot be held to commit any illegality in awarding death penalty in appropriate cases.’While rejecting the review pleas of two death convicts in Nirbhaya case, the Supreme Court has observed that abolition of death penalty by several countries like the United Kingdom, Latin American countries and Australian states …

Death Penalty For Rape Of Children: Painkillers Without Legislative Prescription
6 years, 11 months ago

Death Penalty For Rape Of Children: Painkillers Without Legislative Prescription

Live Law  

It appears that motivation for retention of death penalty lies not in its utility as a deterrent but as a safety valve for the stirring public sentiments. Only 10 weeks ago did the Centre argue before the Supreme Court that ‘death penalty is not an answer to everything’ - to quote Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha - in response to …

Death Penalty For Rape Of Children: Painkillers Without Legislative Prescription
6 years, 11 months ago

Death Penalty For Rape Of Children: Painkillers Without Legislative Prescription

Live Law  

It appears that motivation for retention of death penalty lies not in its utility as a deterrent but as a safety valve for the stirring public sentiments. Only 10 weeks ago did the Centre argue before the Supreme Court that ‘death penalty is not an answer to everything’ - to quote Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha - in response to …

371 Convicts In Death Row By 2017 End, 27% Dip From 2016: Centre On Death Penalty (NLU-D) Report [Read Report]
7 years, 2 months ago

371 Convicts In Death Row By 2017 End, 27% Dip From 2016: Centre On Death Penalty (NLU-D) Report [Read Report]

Live Law  

A total of 371 convicts are on death row by the end of 2017, which is 27 per cent lower than that in 2016 when 399 persons were awarded death sentence.The statistics are part of second edition of ‘Death Penalty in India, Annual Statistics Report’ Published by Centre on death penalty, National Law University.The report is a result of extensive …

2012 Delhi gangrape case: Supreme Court upholds death sentence to 4 convicts
7 years, 10 months ago

2012 Delhi gangrape case: Supreme Court upholds death sentence to 4 convicts

Live Mint  

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death sentence awarded to four convicts in the brutal 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in Delhi that sparked nationwide outrage. The Delhi high court on 13 March 2014 upheld the death sentence awarded to Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma after they were …

A Systemic Trend In India In Awarding Death Penalty Against Marginalized Populations: Dr.Anup Surendranath [Video]
7 years, 11 months ago

A Systemic Trend In India In Awarding Death Penalty Against Marginalized Populations: Dr.Anup Surendranath [Video]

Live Law  

On 7 March, 2017 NALSAR Lecture Series on Constitutionalism hosted its eighth speaker, Dr. AnupSurendranath. He started off by highlighting the dichotomy of opinions that exists with respect to death penalty byreading excerpts from the US Supreme Court decision of Callins v. Collins. The Supreme Court can and has dismissed death penalty SLPsin limine.Justice Nariman, speaking for majority in the …

Taking Note Of Law Commission’s Recommendation, SC Commutes Death Sentence in Double Murder Case [Read Judgment]
7 years, 11 months ago

Taking Note Of Law Commission’s Recommendation, SC Commutes Death Sentence in Double Murder Case [Read Judgment]

Live Law  

"Today when capital punishment has become a distinctive feature of death penalty apparatus in India, which somehow breaches the reformative theory of punishment under criminal law, we are not inclined to award the same in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case", said the Bench "Today when capital punishment has become a distinctive feature of death penalty apparatus …

Why capital punishment must stay
8 years ago

Why capital punishment must stay

Deccan Chronicle  

In 1980, the Supreme Court in the Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab abolished the mandatory death penalty in cases of murder and propounded the “rarest of rare” doctrine, allowing courts to impose death penalty in cases such as murder, terrorism, treason, espionage. According to the Supreme Court, “Death penalty should be imposed when collective conscience of the society is …

Public Opinion Towards Death Penalty
8 years, 5 months ago

Public Opinion Towards Death Penalty

Live Law  

While deciding the question of abolition of death penalty, will public opinion matter before Constitutional Courts or even a legislature? The New York Times wrote in its editorial yesterday, as follows: “Although the death penalty is still considered constitutional by the Supreme Court, Americans’ appetite for this barbaric practice diminishes with each passing year. With three of the Supreme Court’s …

Public Opinion Towards Death Penalty
8 years, 5 months ago

Public Opinion Towards Death Penalty

Live Law  

While deciding the question of abolition of death penalty, will public opinion matter before Constitutional Courts or even a legislature? The New York Times wrote in its editorial yesterday, as follows: “Although the death penalty is still considered constitutional by the Supreme Court, Americans’ appetite for this barbaric practice diminishes with each passing year. With three of the Supreme Court’s …

Death penalty an aberration in democracy, abolish it: Shashi Tharoor
9 years, 3 months ago

Death penalty an aberration in democracy, abolish it: Shashi Tharoor

India TV News  

New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor today demanded abolition of death penalty, describing it as an "aberration in a healthy democracy". Contending that death penalty has mostly affected the marginalised people, the Congress leader said the state should not become killer. "We should abolish death penalty to uphold the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi," he said. Chowdhury said since Prime Minister …

The case against death penalty
9 years, 6 months ago

The case against death penalty

The Hindu  

The Law Commission of India has taken a historic step by >declaring that the abolition of the death penalty must become a goal for India. It makes a clean break with the ‘rarest of the rare’ principle that was laid down in Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab : that judgment noted that the application of the death penalty would …

Keep death sentence only for terror-related offences: Law panel
9 years, 6 months ago

Keep death sentence only for terror-related offences: Law panel

India TV News  

New Delhi: The Law Commission, in a report released on Monday, recommended India abolish the death penalty, with the exception of terror-related offences, saying that sending a convict to the gallows has lost its relevance as a deterrent to curb heinous offences. While not recommending the abolition of death sentence in terror-related cases, the commission has however, said that "there …

Deterrence is a myth, says Law Commission
9 years, 6 months ago

Deterrence is a myth, says Law Commission

The Hindu  

The Law Commission of India has recommended the abolition of the death penalty for all crimes except terrorism-related offences and waging war. On Monday, his last day in office, Law Commission chairperson Justice A P Shah presented the Commission’s 262nd Report, titled ‘The Death Penalty’, to law minister Sadananda Gowda. BJP, Congress cautious The Law Commission’s report on the death …

Law Commission of India recommends Abolition of Death penalty except in offences related to Terrorism and Waging war [Read Report]
9 years, 6 months ago

Law Commission of India recommends Abolition of Death penalty except in offences related to Terrorism and Waging war [Read Report]

Live Law  

The Law Commission of India in its 262nd report recommendedtoday that the death penalty may be abolished for all crimes other than terrorism related offences and waging war. Shah said in its report “Although there is no valid penological justification for treating terrorism differently from other crimes, concern is often raised that abolition of death penalty for terrorism related offences …

Law panel for abolishing death penalty except in terror cases
9 years, 7 months ago

Law panel for abolishing death penalty except in terror cases

India TV News  

New Delhi: Law Commission, which is said to be in favour of abolishing death penalty except in terror-related cases, will present its report on the issue to the government on Monday. A draft report of the Law Commission is understood to have favoured abolition of the death penalty from the statute books, except in cases where the accused is convicted …

India execution brings out mixed feelings on punishment - India TV News
9 years, 8 months ago

India execution brings out mixed feelings on punishment - India TV News

India TV News  

New Delhi : Few countries sentence more people to death than India. About 300 prominent citizens, including at least eight retired judges of the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court, had urged India's president to commute Memon's sentence to life in prison, reflecting what appears to be growing uneasiness in India with the death penalty. The relatively low number …

‘Crime must be punished’
9 years, 8 months ago

‘Crime must be punished’

The Hindu  

In 1993, 39-year-old lawyer Ujjwal Nikam was appointed as Special Public Prosecutor in the 1993 serial blasts case. Speaking to The Hindu, he revisits the 1993 trial in light of the death penalty awarded to Yakub Memon. I do not want to comment on that as the matter is sub judice, but the Supreme Court has laid down certain guidelines …

Trial and error
9 years, 8 months ago

Trial and error

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court, in its 1980 Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab ruling, laid down the “rarest of the rare” principle in handing out the death penalty. New research findings from the Centre on the Death Penalty at the National Law University in Delhi show that trial courts handed down 1,800 death sentences over the last 15 years. Higher courts …

Mixed response on abolition of death penalty in India |IndiaTV News
9 years, 8 months ago

Mixed response on abolition of death penalty in India |IndiaTV News

India TV News  

New Delhi: A discussion on a law commission consultation paper on whether capital punishment should be retained or abolished on Saturday evoked a mixed response. While former President APJ Abdul Kalam, DMK leader Kanimozhi and former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, supported the abolition of death penalty, several others, including SC bar association's Dushyant Dave favoured retaining the capital punishment. …

Ram Jethmalani opposed to idea of abolishing death penalty in India-IndiaTV News
10 years, 1 month ago

Ram Jethmalani opposed to idea of abolishing death penalty in India-IndiaTV News

India TV News  

New Delhi: Senior advocate and MP Ram Jethmalani vehemently opposed the idea of abolishing death penalty in India adding that the possibility of incorrect convictions was very miniscule. Jethmalani said, “I do not agree under any circumstances to abolish death penalty.” “The punishment is “highly desirable” in cases of terrorism, waging war and violent use of force to achieve political …

Rethink the death penalty
10 years, 3 months ago

Rethink the death penalty

The Hindu  

As India continues to stand in favour of the death penalty, it is increasingly finding itself in the margins of world politics and international standards on this issue. Customary international law does not prohibit the death penalty currently, but global opinion is rapidly moving towards an abolition. Given this global trend, India gave the following reasons for its retentionist position: …

Death Penalty – Is it ever Justified?
10 years, 5 months ago

Death Penalty – Is it ever Justified?

Live Law  

‘Every saint has a past and every sinner a future, never write off the man wearing the criminal attire but remove the dangerous degeneracy in him, restore his retarded human potential by holistic healing of his fevered, fatigued or frustrated inside and by repairing the repressive, though hidden, injustice of the social order which is vicariously guilty of the criminal …

Death Penalty – Is it ever Justified?
10 years, 5 months ago

Death Penalty – Is it ever Justified?

Live Law  

‘Every saint has a past and every sinner a future, never write off the man wearing the criminal attire but remove the dangerous degeneracy in him, restore his retarded human potential by holistic healing of his fevered, fatigued or frustrated inside and by repairing the repressive, though hidden, injustice of the social order which is vicariously guilty of the criminal …

I’m against the death penalty, but I think we should be free to debate it
10 years, 7 months ago

I’m against the death penalty, but I think we should be free to debate it

The Independent  

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Surveys conducted ever since have shown …

Law Commission calls for review of death penalty
10 years, 10 months ago

Law Commission calls for review of death penalty

The Hindu  

The Law Commission has called for a reassessment of the need for the death penalty. The Commission pointed out that the Supreme Court had commuted the death sentences of 15 convicts on the ground that the inordinate delay in deciding their mercy pleas constituted a violation of the fundamental rights. Stating that it was aware of the United Nations resolution …

Mercy and the machinery of death
11 years ago

Mercy and the machinery of death

The Hindu  

IN Bamnia village in Purulia, West Bengal, the mother of Ajay Kumar Pal, India’s latest mercy-rejected death-row prisoner, lives in abject poverty with very little to eat or wear, surviving on food that villagers give her on some days for clearing dung from their cowsheds. The cumulative effect of these judgments is that the delay in deciding mercy petitions is, …

Death penalty: The unsettling issues of life and death
11 years, 1 month ago

Death penalty: The unsettling issues of life and death

Live Law  

The Apex Court recently in the case of Shatrughan Chauhan & Others issued guidelines on commutation of death penalty to life imprisonment in cases of prolonged delay, insanity while serving the sentence, solitary confinement, judgment declared by the higher court to be erroneous, procedural lapses etc. The doctrine of ‘rarest of rare’, in awarding death penalty was carved out by …

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