Capital Punishment: Should it be abolished and its status in India?
THE LAWWAY WITH LAWYERS JOURNAL VOLUME:-7 ISSUE NO:- 7 , JANUARY 5 , 2024 ISSN (ONLINE):- 2584-1106 Website: www.the lawway with lawyers.com Email: thelawwaywithelawyers@gmail.com Capital Punishment: Should it be abolished and its status in India? Satakshi Dubey BA.LLB Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad. Abstract Over the years many nations has abolished capital and has recognises the capital punishment as a violation of universal human rights, right to life, freedom from cruel, inhuman, tortuous punishments and also violation of international human rights institutions that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment and treaties. This article aims to understand about the status of capital punishment around the world and also to analyse the extent to which capital punishment has been restrained. “More than 70% of the countries in the world have abolished the capital punishment, although it is still employed in some countries like China, Japan, USA, and, Saudi Arabia etc. and many of these nations acknowledges that the capital punishment should be applied carefully, thoughtfully and with all necessary precautions to protect any person or accused from the abuse, misuse and, erroneous conviction. Although capital punishment is not completely abolished from the world but it is used as rarest of the rare cases. The article also studies the various reasons why the capital punishment is supported or opposed? At last, we will look into the comprehensive status of stand of India on capital punishment and its legal stands and grounds. Keywords: Capital punishment, death penalty, accused, wrongdoer, countries Introduction Basically punishments are the result of the offence committed by any person. The basic aim of punishments is to deter the wrongdoer and reform them as a normal law-abiding citizen of the society. Punishments are based on the different types of theories of punishment and society of any nation. Capital punishment also known as death penalty which means a legal authority to cease or sanctions any person’s right to life and liberty. Capital punishment is foremost used in the most heinous crimes and in India in the rarest of rare crimes. Capital punishments are generally imposed a country’s governing authorities and it is the highest punishment that could be awarded in any legal system. Historically, also there is no country in this world that didn’t have provisions or punishment of death penalty and the history of death sentence are dated back in 8th century B.C. Many philosophers have given different theories of punishment which describes the form of the punishments and reason behind them. Deterrence theory: this theory uses punishment as a threat to deter further or future offences. Retributive theory: this theory emphasises punishment as an ethical and moral reaction to the transgression, aiming to make balance between justice and punishment by applying a sentence that is proportional to the damage done. Rehabilitation theory: this theory makes a strong emphasis on helping criminal change and become a law-abiding member of the society by providing them with counselling, education, therapy etc and other forms of support, and etc. these are the some theories of the punishments. The capital punishment come under the deterrent theory of punishment as it aim to set an example to prevent the future crimes. World’s countries on capital punishment Total ninety-eight nation has eliminated the death penalty, for any and all crimes, regardless of whether they were committed during a time of peace or conflict, or in accordance with civil or military criminal codes. “As per the Amnesty International 2014 report on the execution of capital punishment found that there was total 778 execution of death penalty which were reported from 22 countries in the year 2013 and, 369 executions from 96 countries. Iran has highest number of execution, followed by Iraq, which is more than 169 executions, Saudi Arabia, more than 79 executions, and then USA with more than 39 executions per year.” Although so many countries still use capital punishment but there are so many countries who are already abolished the death penalty either completely or partly. India has not completely abolished the capital punishment but they apply a doctrine of rarest of the rare which simply says that death penalty should only be awarded in extreme circumstances and on the extreme nature of offence committed. “In the Bacchan v. State of Punjab case, the Doctrine of Rarest of Rare was established. In this decision, the Supreme Court attempted to eliminate a doctrine, specifically for crimes punishable by death, to lessen the uncertainty for judges about when to apply the worst penalty possible. By a vote of 4 to 1, the Supreme Court maintained the death penalty’s legitimacy and established the rule that it should only be used in the rarest of rare cases.” Capital punishment in India The Indian penal code only award death penalty on some certain offences. The Indian constitution under article 21 gives a fundamental right to life and liberty to every person and further it specifically mentions that no person whether the citizen of India or not shall not be deprived of right to life and liberty but except the procedures which are established by law. Over the year India has also made major changes in their criminal laws, like recording the specific reasons by the judges for awarding death penalty, and not awarding the alternate punishment. Establishing the doctrine of rarest of the rare in any case, then if any alternate punishment is given in the law for death penalty then shall always try to choose the alternate punishment mentioned. “The court established a set of standards in the Macchi Singh case to determine when a case qualifies as the rarest of rare. Below is an analysis of the criteria: 1. Manner of commission of murder – When the murder is carried out in a way that awakens fierce and extreme indignation of the community by being incredibly cruel, ridiculous, diabolical, revolting, or reprehensible; 2. Intention for the act of murder – In cases where the murder is motivated by extreme brutality and depravity, 3. The crime’s socially
