The debate on abolition of death penalty received a big push on Monday with the law Commission recommending abolition of death penalty for all crimes except in case of terrorism and waging war.
The exhaustive report prepared by the Commission headed by retired Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah was submitted to the law Minister on a day which marked Shah’s last day in office. looking into the sensitivity of the case, the panel had suo moto decided to examine the effectiveness of death penalty, the scope of mercy petitions, and the need for a principled approach for judicial pronouncements that arbitrarily give death in some cases and life term in others.
The Commission said, “The death penalty does not serve the penological goal of deterrence any more than life imprisonment… The notion of “an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” has no place in our constitutionally mediated criminal justice system. Capital punishment fails to achieve any constitutionally valid penological goals.”
The arbitrary manner in which courts grant death penalty has failed to act as a deterrent envisaged by the Constitution, it said, adding that in the absence of a uniform approach, the “vagaries of system” affect the poor and marginalised who fail to advocate their rights.
While the report has far reaching consequences, the fate of the recommendations seeing the light of the day is bleak since three members in the panel, including two Government nominees and a former judge, have argued in favour of retaining death penalty as it exists in the IPC and other laws.
law Secretary PK Malhotra and the legislative Affairs Secretary, the two crucial legal posts in the Government, refused to concur with the chairperson. They argued that the matter required broader debate and hinted undue haste in arriving at the conclusion, particularly since the draft of the chariman’s report reached them only by August 29 evening. Attaching a separate note with their dissent letter, they pointed out that the Indian society had not matured to full abolition of death penalty. Only recently, Parliament supported a death penalty clause in the Anti-Hijacking Bill and a recent decision by the SC upheld validity of death sentence for kidnapping involving ransom.