Capital Punishment
Related cases:
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- Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab, 1980: Doctrine of Rarest of Rare cases propounded.
- Machhi Singh v. State of Punjab (1983): Need to balance aggravating and mitigating factors in the case.
- Kehar Singh vs Union of India, 1989: Pardoning power of President subject to judicial review.
- Bhagwan Das vs State, 2011: Death penalty in cases of “honour killings.”
- Shatrughan Chauhan vs Union of India, 2014: Undue, inordinate and unreasonable delay in execution of death sentence can be a ground for commutation of sentence.
Rationale:
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- Strong deterrence against crime
- Strong message by state against act of terrorism
- If no possibility of mendability of behavior.
- The intensity of crime necessitates such punishment.
Inconsistencies with Rarest of Rare Doctrine
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- The practice is not standardized and depends on the way case has been described and understanding of judges.
- Inconsistency in cases even when they are of similar nature for example in Nirbhaya case got media attention but other cases like Badaun/ Hathras case did not get media attention.
Socio-economic profile of rarest crimes
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- 65% death sentences are related to sexual violence and in such cases, 93% crimes are committed by known persons.
- 76% of those who got death sentence belongs to SC, ST, OBC of which 74% belong to very poor economic conditions.
- SC in 2009 admitted that death sentence given to 15 persons in 15 years erroneously.
- Only 5% cases of death sentence from lower court are withheld by SC as death sentence.
- There has been delay in execution of death sentence, as high as 20 years.
Support for abolition of Capital Punishment
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- Socio economic nature of crimes
- Legal jurisprudence system based on reformation rather than retribution or revenge.
- An eye for an eye will make the world blind.
- Wisdom of the state and compassionate state.
Way forward:
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- The scope of death sentence should be minimized and be limited to some cases like acts of terrorism as recommended by Law Commission in 2015.
- The doctrine of Rarest of Rare case should e made more objective to eliminate inconsistency.
- The government should have socio-economic interventions as a long term solution.
- Criminal justice reforms for a more sensitive and proactive judiciary.
- Reformation rather than retribution.
Mercy Petition and Clemency
Rationales
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- To address any such error in judgment.
- To take into consideration all the facts present in the case.
- To go beyond facts and analyze the adverse impacts on society.
- To adopt a compassionate approach of forgiveness.
Whether there can be Judicial Review of Mercy Petition?
Judicial review is allowed but is limited to checking procedural fairness and constitutional violations rather than re-examining the merits of the case. Grounds for judicial review:
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- Violation of Fundamental Rights
- Non-application of mind
- Arbitrary or malafide action
- Excessive and unexplained delay
