Kasab has been sentenced to death! The news ignited mixed emotions. Some hailed it as an ideal judgement in light of the atrocities of 26/11; some questioned the necessity of death penalty in India, and what purpose would it serve by killing a person? Would it not be against the ideals of the father of our nation? Are we trying to take revenge?
Well, these questions are not new, and I would also like to add a disclaimer that I am not the most equipped and the earliest to write about this topic. However, in the midst of the huge dramatic statements and jargon like ‘rarest of the rare case’, and ‘non-reformative condition’, the real idea seems to get diminished and forgotten. The Supreme Court has already discussed the issue, and Bachan Singh’s judgement in 1980 actually explained the stand of capital punishments in India.
However, I am going to discuss it in a common-man’s perspective.
All my readers would agree with me that ‘hanging to death’ is not a child’s game, and it would be actually inappropriate for us to conceive that such a punishment should be awarded in every second case. Thus, in the judgement that becomes operational in every trial which may have a probability of ending with a death sentence being awarded, the Supreme Court has said that death sentence could only be awarded in the rarest of rare circumstances.
Now, what is the ‘rarest of the rare’ circumstance? What does it mean? Well, in the judgement, many twists and turns have been adopted to explain it. I would prefer a more lame but useful approach. A convict (person found guilty) is normally imprisoned under a few theories of punishment. In India, we have basically adopted two of the theories, they being reformative theory and deterrent theory. Thus, by awarding imprisonment, we not only intend to deter, or rather discourage others from committing such an offence, but we also intend to reform the person, by having appropriate schemes in place to change his character, and make him a responsible person of the society. The question that arises now is what happens when a person cannot be reformed? Would it really make sense to keep a hardcore murderer or a serial killer in jail in hopes of reforming him? Moreover, in India, the maximum punishment after death sentence is, in operation, 14 years of imprisonment, known as ‘imprisonment for life’. I would deal with this concept too, in my future posts, but as of now, it would be convenient to understand that imprisonment can be for a maximum period of 14 years. So after 14 years, what happens to that hardcore murderer? Wouldn’t letting him go be a allowing a menace to be unleashed in society? Well, that is exactly the circumstance where death sentence is inevitable. It would only be logical that such a menace is removed from society, and as such, this would not mean revenge.
This is a very basic understanding of the concept, which of course has its various aspects and the courts always determine the validity on a case to case basis. So there is no real laid down standard for determining what amount to the ‘rarest of the rare circumstance’. However, a lot of argumentation takes place in a court before the award is pronounced.
However, a death sentence is always subject to the ratification of the High Court, and then too, there can be an appeal made to the Supreme Court, and a final mercy petition made to the President of India.
Well, I understand that the procedure is cumbersome and sometimes leads to delays which are unnecessary. However, it would be inappropriate to deny a person chances to change the fate inflicted on him, and thus, India, with its history of benevolence, has such a cross-check and cross-appeal mechanism for its convicts.
Well, that is how death penalties work in the country, and in spite of the counter arguments given by human right activists and patrons in favor of removing death sentence, it still exists in India.
I think a must-watch video is here: http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=145512&from=homePageWatch
I actually can say nothing as against the arguments that were presented here by the panel. My worthy readers must watch this video...
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