Capital Punishment in Modern Era in Refrence to Indian Context
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International Journal of Academic Research and Development International Journal of Academic Research and Development ISSN: 2455-4197 Impact Factor: RJIF 5.22 www.academicsjournal.com Volume 3; Issue 2; March 2018; Page No. 1364-1367 Capital punishment in modern era in refrence to Indian context Ganesh Ji LLB, Hons, College-Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India Abstract Capital punishment is a highly debated matter all over the world. It is legal but rarely voted for in India. Imposition of the penalty is not always followed by, because of the possibility of commutation to life imprisonment. If we look Since 1995, it has been used only four times on Auto Shankar in 1995, Dhananjoy Chatterjee in 2004, Ajmal Kasab in 2012, Afzal Guru in 2013 and Yakub Menon in 2015. Although there are numerous countries that proscribe death sentences, there is no international consensus till date regarding its legality. The Indian legal system too has struggled with the constitutionality of death penalty and the circumstances in which it may be granted. This paper analyses the constitutional validity of death sentence and the circumstances under which it may be granted with the help of relevant cases and the ‘rarest of the rare’ test that was prescribed by Supreme Court in Bachan Singh case. This paper concludes by observing that Indian judiciary is moving away from the implementation of capital punishment as there is greater emphasis on alternative modes of punishment and the international legal developments which are against the capital punishment. Keywords: punishment, Indian, modern refrence Introduction of the states and the federal government have retained the Capital punishment, also called death penalty, execution of an death penalty, about two-thirds of all executions since 1976 offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law (when new death penalty laws were affirmed by the Supreme of a criminal offense. Capital punishment should be Court) have occurred in just six states—Texas, Virginia, distinguished from extrajudicial executions carried out Florida, Missouri, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. China was without due process of law. The term death penalty is believed to have executed about 1,000 people annually (no sometimes used interchangeably with capital punishment, reliable statistics are published) until the first decade of the though imposition of the penalty is not always followed by 21st century, when estimates of the number of deaths dropped execution (even when it is upheld on appeal), because of the sharply. Although the number of executions worldwide varies possibility of commutation to life imprisonment. from year to year, some countries—including Belarus, Congo (Kinshasa), Iran, Jordan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Capital punishment in the early 21st century Taiwan, Vietnam, and Yemen—execute criminals regularly. Despite the movement toward abolition, many countries have Japan and India also have retained the death penalty and carry retained capital punishment, and, in fact, some have extended out executions from time to time. its scope. More than 30 countries have made the importation and possession for sale of certain drugs a capital offense. Iran, Death sentence abandoned by 160 countries–not India, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines impose a mandatory China, US and Japan death sentence for the possession of relatively small amounts About 160 countries have abolished the death penalty in law of illegal drugs. In Singapore, which has by far the highest or practice while 98 have abolished it altogether, according to rate of execution per capita of any country, about three-fourths this United Nations report. of persons executed in 2000 had been sentenced for drug In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a offenses. resolution towards the abolition of capital punishment and the Some 20 countries impose the death penalty for various protection of human rights when it endorsed a call for a economic crimes, including bribery and corruption of public worldwide moratorium on the death penalty. officials, embezzlement of public funds, currency speculation, Apart from India, other prominent countries that opposed the and the theft of large sums of money. Sexual offenses of resolution to abolish the death penalty include China, Japan various kinds are punishable by death in about two dozen and United States. countries, including most Islamic states. In the early 21st In 2013, nearly 778 executions were reported in 22 countries, century there were more than 50 capital offenses in China. a 14% growth over 682 executions in 2012. Despite the large number of capital offenses in some countries, in most years only about 30 countries carry out Capital punishment in India executions. In the United States, where roughly three-fourths At independence in 1947, India retained the 1861 Penal Code 1364 International Journal of Academic Research and Development which provided for the death penalty for murder. During the teenage girl. drafting of the Indian Constitution between 1947 and 1949, On 21 November 2012, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab the several members of the Constituent Assembly expressed the only terrorist to have survived the 2008 Mumbai terror ideal of abolishing the death penalty, but no such provision attacks, was hanged in Pune’s Yerwada Jail. was incorporated in the Constitution. Private members’ bills to On 9 Februrary 2013, Mohammed Afzal Guru, a convict in abolish the death penalty were introduced in both houses of the 2001 Parliament attack case was hanged inside Delhi’s parliament over the next two decades, but none of them was Tihar jail. adopted. It has been estimated that 3000 to 4000 executions On 30 July 2015, Yakyub Menon,a convict in Bombay Blast occurred between 1950 and 1980. Information on the numbers 1993 in Nagpur central jail. of persons sentenced to death and executed from 1980 to the In addition, 3,751 death sentences were commuted to life mid- 1990s is harder to measure. It is estimated that two or imprisonment during this period. three persons were hanged per year [i]. In the Bachan Singh [ii] The Centre on the Death Penalty published Death Penalty judgment of 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the death India Report which found that most in death row are penalty should be used only in the “rarest of rare” cases, but backward, uneducated and first time offenders with no what defines rarest of the rare is not clear. previous crime history. Another finding was, that out of 1,486 A death sentence–is common in India, with 1,303 capital- death sentences imposed By the trial courts, only 4.9% (73 punishment verdicts between 2004 and 2013, according to this prisoners) remained on death row after the appeal in the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) prison statistics Supreme Court was decided. report. In November 2016, India voted against a UN resolution to However, only four convicts were executed over this period, establish a moratorium on death penalty, stating that it one each in West Bengal (2004), Maharashtra (2012) and contravened statutory law in India. 115 countries had voted in Delhi (2013). India saw an execution-free period of seven favour of the resolution. years between 2004 and 2012 on 14 August 2004, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged at Alipore Central Jail in West Bengal Provisions under IPC & other law for capital punishment on his 42nd birthday, convicted for the rape and murder of a Table 1: Capital Offences in IPC Sl. No. Section Number Description 1. Section 121 Treason, for waging war against the Government of India 2. Section 132 Abetment of mutiny actually committed 3. Section 194 Perjury resulting in the conviction and death of an innocent person 4. Section 195A Threatening or inducing any person to give false evidence resulting in the conviction and death of an innocent person 5. Section 302 Murder 6. Section 305 Abetment of a suicide by a minor, insane person or intoxicated person 7. Section 307 (2) Attempted murder by a serving life convict 8. Section 364A Kidnapping for ransom 9. Section 376A Rape and injury which causes death or leaves the woman in a persistent vegetative state 10. Section 376E Certain repeat offenders in the context of rape 11. Section 396 Dacoity with murder Table 2: Capital Offences in other laws Sl. Section Number Description No. 1. Sections 34, 37, and 38(1) The Air Force Act, 1950 2. Section 3(1)(i) The Andhra Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act, 2001 3. Section 27(3) The Arms Act, 1959 (repealed) 4. Sections 34, 37, and 38(1) The Army Act, 1950 5. Sections 21, 24, 25(1)(a), and 55 The Assam Rifles Act, 2006 6. Section 65A(2) The Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Act, 2009 7. Sections 14, 17, 18(1)(a), and 46 The Border Security Force Act, 1968 8. Sections 17 and 49 The Coast Guard Act, 1978 9. Section 4(1) The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 10. Section 5 The Defence of India Act, 1971 11. Section 3 The Geneva Conventions Act, 1960 12. Section 3 (b) The Explosive Substances Act, 1908 13. Sections 16, 19, 20(1)(a), and 49 The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force Act, 1992 14. Section 3(1)(i) The Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, 2000 15. Section 3(1)(i) The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 16. Section 31A(1) The Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 1365 International Journal of Academic Research and Development Sections 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43, 44, 17. The Navy Act, 1957 49(2)(a), 56(2), and 59 The Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of rights of 18. Section 15(4) user in land) Act, 1962 19. Sections 16, 19, 20(1)(a), and 49 The Sashastra Seema Bal Act, 2007 20.