Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Kanimozhi favour abolition of death penalty

Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has favoured abolition of death penalty from the statute in the country and urged the Law Commission of India to revisit its earlier report which had supported the retention of the capital punishment.

Supporting his view, DMK leader Kanimozhi has said that most of the countries have abolished the deterrent punishment as it deprived people of the opportunity to reform.

A law commission source told dna, Dr Kalam in his letter said "we all are the creations of God. I am not sure a human system or a human being is competent to take away a life based on artificial and created evidence."

Dr Kalam, an Indian scientist who had served the nation as President during the period 2002-2007, had to confirm the capital punishment awarded by the trial court to some convicts including the 2004 execution of West Bangal's Dhananjay Chaterjee, a lift operator who had raped and murdered an 18 year girl in 1990.

The Bharat Ratna awardee has referred to his book "Turning Points" in which he has mentioned about his difficulty as President to take a decision to confirm the capital punishment awarded to the convicts.

According to his book, as a common man he found that most of the death penalty case were

socio- economic biased and the person who was least involved in the enmity and did not have a direct motive for committing the crime.

In yet another opinion through an e-mail sent by former union minister Kanimozhi Karunandhi cited the reasons that there is no conclusive proof that capital punishment acts as a deterrent to future crimes and there is a chance that an innocent may be sentenced to death.

Both Dr Kalam and Kanimozhi have expressed their views to the panel, which has floated consultation paper on the issue of death penalty and invited public comments on the subject.