Recently, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of a man, convicted of the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl, to life imprisonment.
In a big development, the Supreme Court has suo motu opened a review of the process by which courts award the death penalty. The apex court will consider laying down guidelines for assessment of mitigating circumstances in death penalty cases as it raised concerns on the process.
Recently, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of a man, convicted of the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl, to life imprisonment. This judgment may become a significant precedent to the anti-death penalty cause. SC had decided to extensively examine the circumstances where a judge had to choose between life imprisonment and death penalty.
What was Supreme Court's ruling in the case?
The apex court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, saying the guilty shall not be entitled to 'premature release or remission before undergoing actual imprisonment' for a period of 30 years.
It advised the trial judges that they should not be swayed in favour of death penalty merely because of the dreadful nature of the crime and its harmful impact on the society. They should equally consider the mitigating factors in favour of life imprisonment.
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What is a death penalty?
Death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is the execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offence. It is the highest penalty awardable to an accused. In India, death penalty it is awarded in extremely severe cases of murder, rapes, treason etc.
Under the provisions of criminal procedure, death penalty must be awarded as an alternative punishment to life imprisonment which the offenders may be sentenced in 'rarest of rare cases'. It is seen as the most suitable punishment and effective deterrent for the worst crimes.
Rarest of rare cases can be described as those when the murder is committed in an extremely brutal, ridiculous, diabolical, revolting, or reprehensible manner so as to awaken intense and extreme indignation of the community. When total depravity and cruelty are the motives behind a murder.
In what circumstances death penalty is accorded?
Crimes punishable by death in India include aggravated murder, other offences resulting in death, terrorism-related crimes resulting in death, terrorism-related cases not resulting in death, rape not resulting in death, kidnapping not resulting in death, drug trafficking not resulting in death, treason, espionage and military offenses not resulting in death.
Arguments in favour of death penalty
Retribution - One of the key principles of retribution is that people should get what they deserve in proportion to the severity of their crime. This argument states that real justice requires people to suffer for their wrongdoing and to suffer in a way appropriate for the crime.
Deterrence - Capital punishment is often justified with the argument that by executing convicted murderers, we will deter would-be murderers from killing people. It is often argued that the death penalty provides closure for victims' families.
Arguments against death penalty
The statistical evidence doesn't confirm that deterrence works. Some of those executed may not have been capable of being deterred because of mental illness or defect. Death has been prescribed in rape cases since 2013 (Sec. 376A of IPC), still, rapes continue to happen and in fact, the brutality of rapes has increased manifold. This compels one to think of the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime.
The most common argument against capital punishment is that sooner or later, innocent people may get killed, because of mistakes or flaws in the justice system. According to Amnesty International, as long as human justice remains fallible, the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated.
Those who oppose it, however, see it as inhumane. Thus, the morality of the death penalty is debatable and many criminologists and socialists all across the globe, have been long demanding abolition of the death penalty.
Death has been abolished as a form of punishment in most of the developed countries. Capital punishment does not rehabilitate the prisoner and return them to society.
SC's previous rulings on death penalty
Jagmohan Singh vs State of UP 1973 case - SC held that according to Article 21 deprivation of life is constitutionally permissible if that is done according to the procedure established by law. Thus the death sentence imposed after a trial in accordance with legally established procedures under Cr.PC and the Indian Evidence Act 1872 is not unconstitutional under Article 21.
Rajendra Prasad vs State of UP 1979 case - SC held that, if the murderous operation of a criminal jeopardizes social security in a persistent, planned and perilous fashion then his enjoyment of fundamental rights may be rightly annihilated.
Bachan Singh vs the State of Punjab 1980 case - SC propounded the dictum of ‘rarest of rare cases’ according to which death penalty is not to be awarded except in the 'rarest of rare cases' when the alternative option is unquestionably foreclosed.
Machhi Singh vs State of Punjab 1983 case - The Supreme Court laid down certain considerations for determining whether a case falls under the category of rarest of rare cases or not.
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