Is Capital Punishment Justifiable ?(Continuation)

Human rights groups and Civil liberties activists raise many reasons why capital punishments should be abolished.Some of them are as follows:
1.Many countries have abolished Capital punishment and hence we also should.
2.There is no corelation between the harshness of punishment and crime rate.
3.In the event of a death penalty is given to a person,there is no way of correcting that error, should fresh evidence surface at a later date .
4. It is an extention of the crude principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
5.A humen being is not entitled to take the life of another humen being even if the state empowers him to do so.

On a proper analysis,it becomes evident that all the above arguements donot hold water.Each country may have their own reasons to include or exclude certain types of punishments in their judicial system.Merely because some countries have abolished death penalty (or for that matter any other provicio of law)it doesnot become imperative on our part to follow suit.

It is very absurd to say that there is no corelation between crime and punishment.To put it more explicitly,the arguement that harsh punishments do not bring down crime rate is an openion expressed by certain sections of people withot any facts or studies to back it up.But it is factually true that middle east has a much less crime rate than most countries where punishment and law enforcement are much stricter and faster.

It is possible that despite all oppertunities to an accused to prove his/her innocence,there may be a remote possibility of some innocent person getting a death sentence . It is also true that there maybe still remote possibility of the person's innocence coming to light at a later date . It also goes without saying that the death penalty that has been awarded cannot be undone at that point of time.But all this is true of all punishments that are awarded ,like imprisonment for a certain period . If the innocence of an accused is proved after that person underwent imprisonment,how can his /her years be made good ?Why,there are upteen number of cases where accused are kept under custody for many years as undertrials and they are aquitted at the end of the trial.If we are to follow the arguement of the ante death sentence lobby ,it may not be possible for any kind of punishment to the accused even if there is solid proof.

Problem is that humen rights organisations are taking extreme positions wherby they are knowingly or unknowingly helping criminals ,ante socials and terrorists. 

Is Capital Punishment Justifiable ?

There had been a plethora of eminent and not so eminent personalities  in India coming out against capital punishment . This was in the backdrop of confirmation of death sentence of Yakoob Memon ,one of the prime accused in the conspiracy leading to a series of bomb blasts in Mumbai causing the death of more than 250 innocent citizens who were engaged in their day to day life activities . This incident is said to be a reaction to the riots in neighbouring state of Gujarat which again had its roots on a series of riots consequent upon the demolition of Babari Masjid in Ayodhya,in the state of Utter Pradesh.This write up doesn't attempt to discuss the rights or wrongs of those bizarre incidents ,and certainly not to analyse them.what is attempted here is to discuss capital punishment as provided in the Indian Penal code.

Accused in murder cases can be convicted to hanging until death ,as per Indian Penal Code . It is the highest punishment that can be given to an accused,charges against whom are proved . The Supreme Court of India has interpreted this proviso as one that can be given only in rarest of rare cases.No definition or even criteria to determine what is "rarest of rare "is not available from any source , So it becomes the duty of the judicial officer who considers the case to determine if a particular case falls in that category.There are at least 3 different levels of judicial officers who consider a case . Only district and Sessions court or equivalent can conduct the first hearing in a case for which capital punishment can be awarded . If the sessions court is to award capital punishment against an accused ,the same has to be reviewed and confirmed by a Judge of the High Court.Aggrieved party-prosecution or accused can file an appeal with the high court and if not satisfied with the decision of the high court appall can further be filed with the supreme court.In the case of capital punishment,the condemned party can approach the president of India with a clemency partition for reducing the death penalty to life imprisonment.

After all this if a person is found to have committed a crime worthy of capital punishment,well,so be it.

Human rights groups and others who advocate for abolition of capital punishment raises certain issues,which will be dealt with in the next blog post