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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment