Capital punishment in India
Encyclopedia
Capital punishment in India is a legal but rarely carried out sentence.
ruled in 1983 that the death penalty should be imposed only in "the rarest of rare cases." Capital crimes are murder
, gang robbery with murder, abetting the suicide
of a child or insane
person, waging war against the nation, and abetting mutiny
by a member of the armed forces
. Since 1989, the death penalty has also been legal for a second offense of "large scale narcotics trafficking". In recent years the death penalty has been imposed under new anti-terrorism legislation
for people convicted
of terrorist activities
. Recently, the Indian Supreme Court in Swamy Sharaddananda v. State of Karnataka made imposing the death penalty even harder. The judgement holds that the “rarest of the rare” test prescribed in Bachchan Singh’s case was diluted in the Machchi Singh case. The judgement then goes on to say that the “rarest of the rare” must be measured not only in qualitative but also in quantitative terms.
India's top court has recommended the death penalty be extended to those found guilty of committing so-called "honour killings" with the Supreme Court stating that honour killings fall within the "rarest of the rare" category and deserves to be a capital crime. The Supreme Court of India
has also recommended death sentence
s to be awarded to those police officials who commit police brutality
in the form of encounter killings.
was hanged in Salem, India. Since 1995 only one execution
, that of Dhananjoy Chatterjee
in August 2004, took place. The number of people executed in India
since independence
in 1947 is a matter of dispute; official government statistics claim that only 52 people had been executed since independence, but the People's Union for Civil Liberties
cited information from Appendix 34 of the 1967 Law Commission of India
report showing that 1,422 executions took place in 16 Indian states
from 1953 to 1963, and has suggested that the total number of executions since independence may be as high as 3,000 to 4,300.
About 26 mercy petitions are pending before the president, some of them from 1992. These include that of Khalistan Liberation Force
terrorist Davinder Singh Bhullar who was convicted for killing nine persons and injuring 31, the cases of slain forest brigand Veerappan
's four associates—Simon, Gnanprakasham, Meesekar Madaiah and Bilvendran—for killing 21 policemen in 1993 ; Gurdev Singh, Satnam Singh, Para Singh and Sarabjit Singh, given death penalty for killing 17 persons in a village in Amritsar in 1991 ; and one Praveen Kumar for killing four members of his family in Mangalore in 1994.
It appears that judges in the lower courts are also getting increasingly averse to use capital punishment. For example in 2007 several high profile cases involving pre-meditated cold blooded murders, rape and murder of minors during rioting, terrorist bombings, etc. have not attracted the death penalty. But activists reveal a flaw, that due to the absence of sentencing guidelines in what constitutes "rarest of the rare", in some less gruesome murders, the lower courts have awarded death sentences possibly due to poor defence presented by the lawyers of the economically backward.
The death penalty is carried out by hanging
. After a 1983 challenge to this method, the Supreme Court ruled that hanging did not involve torture, barbarity, humiliation or degradation.
Mohammad Afzal
(Afzal Guru) was convicted of conspiracy
in connection with the 2001 Indian Parliament attack
and was sentenced to death. The Supreme Court of India upheld the sentence, ruling that the attack "shocked the conscience of the society at large." Afzal was scheduled to be executed on October 20, 2006, but the sentence was stayed. The Afzal case remains a volatile political issue.
On May 3, 2010, Ajmal Kasab
was found guilty of numerous charges and was sentenced to death on 4 counts.
on Thu, May 6 a Mumbai Special Court, which conducted the trial of 26/11 terror strikes, announced the death penalty for Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist. The sentencing by Judge M L Tahiliyani makes Kasab the 52nd person on death row in India. Kasab was handed capital punishment for killing 72 people and waging war against the state.
At least 100 people in 2007, 40 in 2006, 77 in 2005, 23 in 2002, and 33 in 2001 were sentenced to death (but not executed), according to Amnesty International
figures. No official statistics of those sentenced to death have been released. In December 2007, India voted against a United Nations General Assembly resolution
calling for a moratorium
on the death penalty.
Law
The Supreme Court of IndiaSupreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India...
ruled in 1983 that the death penalty should be imposed only in "the rarest of rare cases." Capital crimes are murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, gang robbery with murder, abetting the suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
of a child or insane
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
person, waging war against the nation, and abetting mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
by a member of the armed forces
Indian Armed Forces
The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. They consist of the Army, Navy and Air Force, supported by three paramilitary forces and various inter-service institutions such as the Strategic Forces Command.The President of India is...
. Since 1989, the death penalty has also been legal for a second offense of "large scale narcotics trafficking". In recent years the death penalty has been imposed under new anti-terrorism legislation
Anti-terrorism legislation
Anti-terrorism legislation designs various types of laws passed in the aim of fighting terrorism. They usually, if not always, follow specific bombings or assassinations...
for people convicted
Conviction
In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime.The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal . In Scotland and in the Netherlands, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which counts as an acquittal...
of terrorist activities
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
. Recently, the Indian Supreme Court in Swamy Sharaddananda v. State of Karnataka made imposing the death penalty even harder. The judgement holds that the “rarest of the rare” test prescribed in Bachchan Singh’s case was diluted in the Machchi Singh case. The judgement then goes on to say that the “rarest of the rare” must be measured not only in qualitative but also in quantitative terms.
India's top court has recommended the death penalty be extended to those found guilty of committing so-called "honour killings" with the Supreme Court stating that honour killings fall within the "rarest of the rare" category and deserves to be a capital crime. The Supreme Court of India
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India...
has also recommended death sentence
Death Sentence
Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
s to be awarded to those police officials who commit police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
in the form of encounter killings.
History
Between 1975 and 1991, about 40 people were executed. On April 27, 1995 Auto ShankarAuto Shankar
Auto Shankar is the nickname of an Indian serial killer.-Murders:Shankar and his gang were found guilty of six murders, committed over a period of two years in 1988–1989. They were tried for the murders of Lalitha, Sudalai, Sampath, Mohan, Govindaraj and Ravi...
was hanged in Salem, India. Since 1995 only one execution
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
, that of Dhananjoy Chatterjee
Dhananjoy Chatterjee
Dhananjoy Chatterjee was a security guard who was executed by hanging for the murder of 14-year-old Hetal Parekh on March 5, 1990 at her apartment residence in Bhowanipur.Chatterjee, whose mercy plea was rejected on August 4, was kept at Alipore for nearly 14...
in August 2004, took place. The number of people executed in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
since independence
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
in 1947 is a matter of dispute; official government statistics claim that only 52 people had been executed since independence, but the People's Union for Civil Liberties
People's Union for Civil Liberties
People's Union for Civil Liberties is a human rights body formed in India in 1976 by socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, as the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights .-The indian emergency:...
cited information from Appendix 34 of the 1967 Law Commission of India
Law Commission of India
Law Commission of India is an executive body established by an order of the Government of India. Its major function is to work for legal reform. It membership primarily comprises legal experts, who are entrusted a mandate by the Government...
report showing that 1,422 executions took place in 16 Indian states
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
from 1953 to 1963, and has suggested that the total number of executions since independence may be as high as 3,000 to 4,300.
About 26 mercy petitions are pending before the president, some of them from 1992. These include that of Khalistan Liberation Force
Khalistan Liberation Force
The Khalistan Liberation Force or KLF is a militant group, and is part of the Khalistan movement to create a Sikh homeland called Khalistan via armed struggle...
terrorist Davinder Singh Bhullar who was convicted for killing nine persons and injuring 31, the cases of slain forest brigand Veerappan
Veerappan
Koose Muniswamy Veerappan commonly known as Veerappan, was a notorious dacoit, or robber bandit, of India. He was active for a period of years in a broad swath of land covering 6,000 km² in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu...
's four associates—Simon, Gnanprakasham, Meesekar Madaiah and Bilvendran—for killing 21 policemen in 1993 ; Gurdev Singh, Satnam Singh, Para Singh and Sarabjit Singh, given death penalty for killing 17 persons in a village in Amritsar in 1991 ; and one Praveen Kumar for killing four members of his family in Mangalore in 1994.
It appears that judges in the lower courts are also getting increasingly averse to use capital punishment. For example in 2007 several high profile cases involving pre-meditated cold blooded murders, rape and murder of minors during rioting, terrorist bombings, etc. have not attracted the death penalty. But activists reveal a flaw, that due to the absence of sentencing guidelines in what constitutes "rarest of the rare", in some less gruesome murders, the lower courts have awarded death sentences possibly due to poor defence presented by the lawyers of the economically backward.
The death penalty is carried out by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. After a 1983 challenge to this method, the Supreme Court ruled that hanging did not involve torture, barbarity, humiliation or degradation.
Mohammad Afzal
Mohammad Afzal
Mohammad Afzal, also known as Afzal Guru, is a Kashmiri who was convicted of conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of India in 2004. The sentence was scheduled to be carried out on 20 October 2006...
(Afzal Guru) was convicted of conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
in connection with the 2001 Indian Parliament attack
2001 Indian Parliament attack
The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a high-profile attack by Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists against the building housing the Parliament of India in New Delhi...
and was sentenced to death. The Supreme Court of India upheld the sentence, ruling that the attack "shocked the conscience of the society at large." Afzal was scheduled to be executed on October 20, 2006, but the sentence was stayed. The Afzal case remains a volatile political issue.
On May 3, 2010, Ajmal Kasab
Ajmal Kasab
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab is a Pakistani Islamic terrorist who was involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks in India. Kasab is the only attacker captured alive by police and is currently in Indian custody. The Government of Pakistan initially denied that Kasab was from Pakistan, but in January 2009,...
was found guilty of numerous charges and was sentenced to death on 4 counts.
on Thu, May 6 a Mumbai Special Court, which conducted the trial of 26/11 terror strikes, announced the death penalty for Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist. The sentencing by Judge M L Tahiliyani makes Kasab the 52nd person on death row in India. Kasab was handed capital punishment for killing 72 people and waging war against the state.
At least 100 people in 2007, 40 in 2006, 77 in 2005, 23 in 2002, and 33 in 2001 were sentenced to death (but not executed), according to Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
figures. No official statistics of those sentenced to death have been released. In December 2007, India voted against a United Nations General Assembly resolution
United Nations General Assembly Resolution
A United Nations General Assembly Resolution is voted on by all member states of the United Nations in the General Assembly.General Assembly resolutions usually require a simple majority to pass...
calling for a moratorium
Moratorium (law)
A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law. In a legal context, it may refer to the temporary suspension of a law to allow a legal challenge to be carried out....
on the death penalty.
External links
- Model Prison Manual India
- http://amnesty.org.in/downloads/DP_Summary_Report-1May2008.doc Lethal lottery: The Death Penalty in India -a study of Supreme Court judgments in death penalty cases 1950-2006 (summary report)
- http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA20/006/2008 Lethal lottery: The Death Penalty in India -a study of Supreme Court judgments in death penalty cases 1950-2006 (Complete Report)
- The Death Penalty in India Briefing for the EU-India Summit, 7 September 2005
- India and the death penalty Sanjoy Majumder, BBC News.