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

‘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 is no ground. ‘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 is no ground to efface the death penalty from the statute book of our country. In this regard, Justice Ashok Bhushan, who authored the judgment, observed: “The submission of Mr. Singh that death penalty has been abolished by the Parliament of U.K. in the year 1966 and several Latin American countries and Australian States have also abolished death penalty is no ground to efface the death penalty from the statute book of our country. 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.” The court also rejected the submissions made by Advocate AP Singh who had attacked the investigation and prosecution agencies, observing that submissions and arguments are general in nature and not based on any substantial ground so as to point out any such error in the trial so as to furnish any ground to review any judgment.