{"id":181975,"date":"2022-04-29T20:30:39","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T15:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=181975"},"modified":"2022-04-30T10:33:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-30T05:03:34","slug":"revisiting-death-penalty-jurisprudence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/revisiting-death-penalty-jurisprudence\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting death penalty jurisprudence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

News: <\/span><\/b>On April 22, In <\/span>Irfan<\/span><\/b> vs State of Madhya Pradesh Case,<\/span><\/b> the Supreme Court decided\u202f<\/span>to critically examine the routine and abrupt way in which trial judges often impose the death penalty<\/span>\u202fon convicts.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a significant development that can radically alter <\/span>India\u2019s death penalty jurisprudence<\/span><\/b> relating to the crime, the criminal, and the punishment.,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What were the observations made by the court in the case?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The court has decided to identify the <\/span>mitigating circumstances<\/span><\/b> (the factors that could lead to avoidance of capital punishment). This will help trial courts in reaching a correct conclusion. It will ensure a <\/span>convict-centric approach<\/span><\/b>. This will make the imposition of <\/span>capital punishment<\/span><\/b> rarer, fairer, and principled.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The accused should be judged on an <\/span>individualistic approach<\/span><\/b>. It means the accused should be examined on the basis of the social, economic, emotional, and genetic components rather than the offence. It would lead to <\/span>a just and judicious sentencing policy<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>\u2018one size fit for all<\/span><\/b>\u2019 approach while considering mitigating factors during sentencing should end\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Court would evolve a <\/span>legal device<\/span><\/b> for procurement of a comprehensive report. The report would deal with the <\/span>socio-economic<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>hereditary backgrounds<\/span><\/b> of the accused procured from experts in the fields of social work, psychiatry, psychology, anthropology, etc.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the arguments against the death penalty?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

In\u202f<\/span>Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u202f(1980) <\/span><\/b>the Constitution Bench refused to declare the death penalty as <\/span>unconstitutional<\/span><\/b>. It suggested a <\/span>humane<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>reformist<\/span><\/b> framework in the <\/span>criminal matters<\/span><\/b>. However, the death penalty can be given but only in the <\/span>rarest of rare cases<\/span><\/b>, that too when \u201c<\/span>the alternate option is unquestionably foreclosed\u201d<\/span><\/b>. This triggered the <\/span>person-centric approach<\/span><\/b> in criminal justice.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>Lochan Shrivas vs State of Chhattisgarh\u202f(2021)<\/span><\/b> and\u202f<\/span>Bhagchandra vs State of Madhya Pradesh\u202f(2021)<\/span><\/b>, the court held that socio-economic backwardness, mental health, heredity, parenting, socialisation, education, etc. can be the reasons to avert the death penalty<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the issues with awarding of the death penalty in India?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

According to <\/span>Section 354(3) <\/span><\/b>in the Code of Criminal Procedure, the judge should specify \u201c<\/span>the special reasons<\/span><\/b>\u201d while imposing the capital punishment.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, there could be \u201c<\/span>gaps within \u202f<\/span><\/b>Bachan Singh<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u202fjudgement itself<\/span><\/b>\u201d. The SC has neither elaborated on the <\/span>mitigating factors<\/span><\/b> which could be used to avert the death penalty, in concrete terms, nor explained the issues such as <\/span>burden of proof <\/span><\/b>and <\/span>standard of pro<\/span><\/b>of in detail.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u202f<\/span>Bachan Singh\u202f principles<\/span><\/b> have not been followed by the judiciary in letter and spirit. <\/span><\/p>\n

– For example, In\u202f<\/span>Ravji vs State of Rajasthan\u202f(1995)<\/span><\/b>, the Supreme Court said that it is the nature of the crime and not the criminal which is important to decide the punishment<\/span><\/p>\n

– In\u202f<\/span>Machhi Singh vs State of Punjab\u202f(1983)<\/span><\/b>, the Court indicated that inadequacy of other punishments could justify the death penalty. In fact, 13 convicts have been hanged in different reported cases without giving due regards to the\u202f<\/span>Bachan Singh<\/span><\/i>\u202fphilosophy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In India, the <\/span>poor<\/span><\/b>, rather than the rich, are awarded the death penalty. Further, those who were sentenced were uneducated and illiterate.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The death penalty is violative of the right to life envisaged under Article 21 of the Constitution.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the dilution of the penal provisions by the Supreme Court, the state has continued to <\/span>overuse<\/span><\/b> or <\/span>misuse the provisions<\/span><\/b>. For example, Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code is often invoked vaguely and widely despite dilution in<\/span>\u202fKedar Nath Singh vs State of Bihar\u202f(1962)<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a possibility that new judicial doctrine and its implementation device may also fail like Bachan Singh doctrine.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Way Forward<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

The present matter should be referred to a larger Bench to rectify the foundational omission in\u202f<\/span>Bachan Singh<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Further, the Supreme Court should analyse the <\/span>constitutional validity<\/span><\/b> of <\/span>death penalty<\/span><\/b> in itself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/span><\/b>: The post is based on an article \u201cRevisiting death penalty jurisprudence<\/strong>\u201d published in the \u201cThe Hindu<\/strong>\u201d on 29<\/strong><\/span>th<\/strong> April 2022<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News: On April 22, In Irfan vs State of Madhya Pradesh Case, the Supreme Court decided\u202fto critically examine the routine and abrupt way in which trial judges often impose the death penalty\u202fon convicts. This is a significant development that can radically alter India\u2019s death penalty jurisprudence relating to the crime, the criminal, and the punishment.,\u00a0… Continue reading Revisiting death penalty jurisprudence<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-181975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1701088257},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}