Tag: #deathpenalty

Should Capital Punishment Be Abolished In India

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Introduction

The prime rationale behind providing punishments is to make the wrongdoer pay the penalty for the wrong he did and to provide a message to society and deter them from committing the same. Capital punishment is an integral part of the criminal justice system also follows the same rationale.   But as human rights movements are increasing and the ideology of considering a person as a fellow human being rather than his gender, race, religion, caste, etc. the rationality of capital punishment is being questioned. 

Definition

The word “death penalty” interchangeably used as capital punishment means the state-sanctioned execution of a malefactor sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law for a criminal offense. The sentence that orders someone to be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence and an act of carrying out such a sentence is called an execution.

Historical Background 

“If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye”

  • These lines are the core doctrine of  the code of king Hammurabi

Of Babylon which originated at the age of 18th century that led to the evolution of capital punishment. The statute prescribed capital punishment for over twenty different offenses depending on the defendant’s societal status. The crimes which are now treated lightly like theft; perjury, etc. were subjected to capital punishment in the Hammurabi Code. Later, the notion of capital punishment was adopted by different ancient statutes like the draconian code of Athens where the death penalty was considered to be compulsory for all types of crime, the roman law of twelve tables where they imposed capital punishments through various methods like burning alive, boiling in oil, drowning, hanging, being thrown to a wild animal, etc. Soon after its introduction, there was a hike in the number of capital punishments held in the 17th and 18th centuries for crimes ranging from theft, cutting down of trees, marrying a Jew, treason, etc. As the punishments started getting more stringent and heinous the jurists had started considering the death sentence only for serious crimes. This led to early reforms in the statute of the death penalty in Britain. It was not only in the statute but also several religious texts have justified the idea of capital punishment:

  1. “Whosoever sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Genesis 9:6) are the excerpts from bible that justifies capital punishment.
  2. In Islam, capital punishment is entitled for certain crimes like apostasy, adultery, murder, those who conducts war against Islam and spies.

Capital punishment for murder was penalized in India after the independence in 1947 by the imposition of a penal code. But during the British regime, it was during the period of 1931 the fingers started pointing towards the constitutionality of capital punishment when Mr. Gaya Prasad Singh, a member of the British parliament introduced a bill to scrap the death penalty for all the offenses prescribed under the Indian Penal code. But the bill was denied during that time at the parliament by stating the impossibility to enact the bill. And after Independence, the government had retained several criminal statutes including the penal code of, 1860 thus penalizing the death penalty. Later on, during the period of 1950 to 1980 there over 3000-4000 capital punishments occurred in India. But it was the 1980’s landmark case Bachan Singh vs. State of Punjab [1] that became a turning point in the evolution of laws regarding capital punishment.

Bachan Singh Vs. State of Punjab:

In this case, the bench was headed by justice Y.C chandrachud, justice A.gupta, justice N.untawalia, justice P.N.bhagwati, and Justice R. Sarkaria. The issue raised in the case is regarding the constitutionality of section 302 of IPC, 1860 under which capital punishment is provided, and about the necessity to follow the facts identified by the lower courts for awarding capital punishment under section 354(3) of CRPC. The judgment of the case states that: 

The court has dismissed the query against the constitutional validity of section 302 of IPC and 354(3) of  CRPC and has also stated that the death penalty can only be imposed in rarest of rare cases, which means that conviction for life imprisonment is the rule and death penalty is an exemption. In India, we all have the right to life under article 21 of the Indian constitution so, that capital punishment is only imposed on serious crimes like aggravated murder, other offenses resulting in death, terrorism-related cases resulting and not resulting in death, kidnapping not resulting in death, drug trafficking not resulting in death, treason, espionage and military offenses not resulting in death. Minors, pregnant women, mentally challenged people are excluded from the death penalty. Hanging and shooting are the two methods that are adopted in India for the execution of the death penalty.

  The first capital punishment was executed in September 1947 at Jabalpur central jail by hanging Rasha alias Raghu raj Singh and recently for Nirbhaya rape case by hanging four out of six culprits: Mukesh Singh, viny Sharma, Pawan Gupta, and Akshay Kumar Singh at Tihar jail. This was the first time where four convicts were hanged together on the same platform. Prior to this, the death sentence conducted in India was the 30th July 2015 hanging of terrorist Yakub Memon, who was convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts. Over 720 people were executed in India after Independence.

Current Status Of Capital Punishment Both Globally And In India

Global level:

There are over 58 countries that still follow the death penalty as a punishment. The convention against torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment stated that the execution or imposition of capital punishment will not amount to torture or inhuman. The death penalty was permissible under the international criminal law in Tokyo and Nuremberg tribunals which were formed during Second World War and from there onwards international courts exclude capital punishment as a permissible form of punishment.  The death penalty is permissible as a punishment under the international convention on civil and political rights (ICCPR) but at the same time, article 6 under the convention guarantees the right to life and also imposes certain safeguards that are supposed to be followed by signatories before considering the death penalty. The ICCR also consists of a second optional protocol for the abolition of the death penalty. It came to light in 1991 and it has 81 state parties and 3 signatories. Under article 37(a) of the convention on rights of children strictly prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on minors (under the age of 18).

At the national level:

From jag Mohan Singh Vs. the state of Uttar Pradesh [2] then in Rajendra Prasad Vs. the state of Uttar Pradesh [3] till the landmark case of Bachan Singh Vs. In the state of Punjab, the apex court stated that in India death penalty can only be imposed in the rarest of rare cases. In India, we highly value the life of a human being under article 21 of the Indian constitution and it was stated that a person will only be executed for a death sentence if it has a fair and valid reason. The case should require some uncommon nature which makes the life imprisonment inadequate and enables the court to take away a person’s right to live. In India, our constitution also provides the right to seek pardon and get free from the death penalty. The mercy petition can be accepted by the president and governor under article 72 and article 161 in the Indian constitution respectively.  9 presidents have accepted mercy petitions with Rajendra Prasad being the president who accepted more petitions.

The Arguments For The Death Penalty

The major   arguments that favor the idea of the death penalty are:

  1. The major argument arises from the concept of Hammurabi code, where it considers the man who deprived the right of another man no longer deserves the luxury of human rights.
  2. Certain crimes like rapes deserve heinous punishments like death penalty.
  3. Awarding death penalty to the wrongdoers will prevent the society from committing the crimes.
  4. Death penalty is given as a counter act of revenge by the victim’s family, which is a right that they deserve.
  5. It is a strong deterrent for criminals.

The Arguments Against The Death Penalty

  1. The common argument that stands against death penalty is that it takes an individual’s right to life.
  2. Many countries execute mentally challenged people who might not even know that they have committed a crime.
  3. In countries like Sudan and Iran death penalty is often used as a political device to execute their political propaganda.
  4. The people who are disadvantaged to have proper socio-economic background are denied proper legal aid and it tends to emerge as a great disadvantage and will not enable the justice system to follow its ideology of justice to all.
  5. There are high chances of a person proving to be innocent after the execution. In America, more than 184 prisoners sent to death row were later released from the row on grounds of innocence in 1973. The death sentence itself cannot ban fellow people from committing the crime

Alternatives For The Death Penalty

By providing value to the life of an individual and also providing the wrongdoer to understand his mistake and repent for the same, other alternative punishments are also provided.

  1. Life imprisonment: it is an effective replacement for death penalty. In this type of punishment a culprit is put behind the bars without the privilege of parole which means that a person cannot leave the prison until he dies. But there is also life imprisonment which provides the luxury of parole. Life imprisonment without parole does have a similar effect that of a death sentence where a person is denied from leading a free and independent life.
  2. Long term imprisonment: in this type of punishment, a culprit is sentenced for a fixed time period of 40 years. Its followed in several countries like:  Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Norway, Portugal and Venezuela 
  3. Release with restrictions: under this punishment the culprit is released with certain restrictions for life long or a particular period of time. any infringement of these restrictions will enable the system to send him back to prison
  4. Preventive detention: this is a type of detention where a person is detained for preventing him from committing a crime.it is mainly provided in case of serious violence or sexual assault where his release can be a threat to society.
  5. Indeterminate term of imprisonment: in this type of imprisonment, a person is sent to jail for a minimum duration but can be prolonged thereafter.

Conclusion

During the time where nirbhaya rape case was a burning topic, BBC had filmed a documentary named India’s daughter where they interviewed the culprits and their family members. In that documentary, Mukesh Singh, one among the six culprits, was asked the question of whether he repents for the crime he did and the answer was a blatant “NO”. He said that no good girl will go out after 9 pm and if rape occurs it’s the girl’s fault than the boy. The main motive behind punishment is to make the wrongdoer pay the penalty and at the same time, it should deter society from committing the same. Not only in the above-mentioned case but in many other crimes the culprit themselves fails to understand their own mistakes. Other than killing someone for taking another’s life capital punishment sadly gets entitled to an act of mere revenge. It fails to implement its major objective of deterring society from committing the crime. There are lots of social, psychological, and legal aspects that are connected with the commission of a crime. Unless we aren’t able to identify and treat and plunder the reasons for the commission of crimes at the `grassroots level, capital punishment won’t be a solution for it.

The article has been written by  Nourien Nizar, a first-year B.COM LLB (HONS) student of Government Law College, Ernakulam, Kerala

The article has been edited by Shubham Yadav, a 4th-year law student at Banasthali Vidyapith.

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Death Penalty

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 Legislative Acts of death penalty

The death penalty is a process that provides punishment to an individual if she or he commits an act that is forbidden by law. It is also known as capital punishment. Capital punishment is an inherent part of the Indian judicial system. 

Article 21 of the Indian constitution is a fundamental right of every citizen. It is given “right to life” and “right to personal liberty.” This means the right to live will not be taken away from any individual except due procedure established by law. The offenses punishable by death are heinous crimes. 

 The death sentence is given under Cr.P.C. Section 354(3) and Section 368 of Criminal Procedure Code, High Court has the power to give a death sentence.

Death sentence punishable in IPC and the other Acts those offenses are:

  • 120B – Punishment of criminal conspiracy.
  • 121 – Waging, or attempt to wage war or abetment of war-waging, against the government of India.
  • 132 – Abetment of mutiny (in the armed forces), if mutiny is committed in consequence of that abetment.
  • 194 – Giving or fabricating false evidence with the intention to procure conviction of a capital offence.
  • 302,304 – Murder.
  • 305 – Abets the commission of suicide to child or insane.
  • 376A, Criminal law amendment Act, 2013 – In the rape case, if the victim died or incapacitated in persistent vegetative state caused by injuries.
  • 396 – Dacoity with murder.

Capital punishment present as a penalty in legislative acts:

  • Army Act, 1950, Air Force Act, 1950, and Navy Act 1956 under section 34 of these Acts.
  • Under Section 32- A of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985.
  • Under Section 4 of the Sati (Prevention Act), 1987.
  • Under Section 3(2) (I) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act, 1989.
  • Under Section 3(2) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002.

Earlier mentioned laws are not applicable in all cases. The death sentence is present in Section 53 of IPC. Punishment is rarely used. 

Validity of the death penalty

The Supreme Court upheld the validity of the death penalty in ‘rarest of rare cases. In the case of Jagmohan Singh v. the State of U.P., the death penalty has been discussed first time in this case. The validity of the death sentence was challenged on the grounds of articles 19 and 21 because it violates the right given under Article 19(1) and 21. The second argument was that procedure prescribed under Cr. P.C. was only limited to findings of guilt and not awarding death sentences. The last argument was Article 14, which guarantees “equality before the law.” This means everyone is equal before the law. In this case, two accused had committed murder, one was sentenced to death, and the other was sentenced to imprisonment for life. The Supreme Court held that the choice of the death sentence is made according to the procedure of law. It was observed that the Judge can choose between imprisonment of life and death sentence based on facts and nature of the case.

In Rajendra Prasad v. the State of U.P., the Supreme Court held that the death penalty is a violation of articles 14, 19, and 21. The death penalty should be abolished or not as a matter of legislature. The court should not decide whether it should be abolished or not.

Criteria for rarest of rare case

This principle has been laid down in the landmark judgment in Bachan Singh v. State of PunjabThis case has overruled the decision of Rajendra Prasad. It held that the death penalty in case of murder is not unreasonable and hence not a violation of article 14,19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, because in clauses (2) to (4) of Article 19 is mentioned: “public order” that is different from “law and order.” The death penalty will be awarded in the rarest of rare cases. The precedents of this case were used to award a death sentence.

In Machhi Singh v. the State of Punjab, in this case, the court held that the death penalty is given in rarest of rare cases. The Supreme Court has given some guidelines for conviction of the death penalty. These guidelines included Manner of Commission of the order, the motive for commission of murder, socially abhorrent nature of the crime, the magnitude of the crime and, the victim of the crime.

Clemency Powers

The prisoner can submit a mercy petition to the President of India and the Governor of State. Article 72 states the President of India has the power “to grant pardon or commute or remit the death sentence.” Article 161 states the governor of a State shall have the power to grant pardon or commute or remit and suspend. If the death sentence has been given in the session court judgment, then it should be confirmed by the High Court.  If the High Court has sentenced the death penalty then the accused can appeal to the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court has sentenced the death penalty then he can file a mercy petition to the President of India. If the President rejects the “mercy petition” then the accused can file a petition under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution for judicial review of the rejection of the mercy petition. In the case, Kehar Singh v. Union of India Indira Gandhi was shot dead by Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. She was Prime Minister. Kehar Singh had planned the murder. His son filed a mercy petition before the President of India but it was rejected. The court held that this case is the rarest of rare cases.

International Scenario

The death penalty is not only found in India but in many other countries as well. In recent years, 90℅ of the death penalty is found in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, and China. According to an Amnesty report, 2,307 death sentences were passed in 56 countries in 2019. But some of the death sentences will be commuted. According to the Amnesty report, 106 countries have not allowed the death penalty. Eight countries have permitted the death penalty only for serious crimes in exceptional circumstances. In 142 countries, it has either been abolished in law or practice.

In India, many NGOs have supported the abolition of the death penalty. The main purpose of the NGOs is to stop inhumane punishment. The abolition of the death penalty movement was also supported by the United Nations during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHRs). Russia has capital punishment but, it has not been used since 1996. Among the European countries, Portugal and Netherlands were the first countries to abolish the death penalty. Belarus is the only European country to practice the death penalty. It is found the practice of the death penalty is more in communist countries than in democratic countries.

Conclusion

The death sentence is a process provided by law. In India, the death sentence is given in the rarest of rare cases. Statutes and legislative Acts have provided the death sentence in certain cases. There are certain circumstances where less punishment has been provided to the accused like if he is a minor, pregnant woman, and co-accused. Now many countries are against capital punishment, and they have abolished the death penalty. If God has given life, then no one can take an individual’s life from him. 

The article has been written by Prachi Yadav, a 2nd  Year student from Mody  University of Science and Technology, Laxmangarh, Rajasthan.

The article has been edited by Shubham Yadav, a 4th-year student at Banasthali Vidyapith, Jaipur.

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