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The issue of the death penalty has been a contentious issue in India for decades. Some people argue that the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime, while others argue that it is cruel and inhumane. Additionally, there are concerns that the death penalty may be applied unfairly, especially to those who are poor and marginalized. Despite these concerns, many people in India believe that the death penalty is necessary for crimes such as murder, terrorism, and rape. These crimes have become more prevalent in recent years, and the public has demanded that the government take action to address them. It is absolutely true that human life is invaluable and must be protected, it is also true that there are certain crimes, like the aforementioned ones, for which only death penalty would count as justice.

In order to understand the issue of death penalty in the country, the research article titled “A Study on Execution of Death Penalty” by By Saiba Meher Rajpal is a good piece. The paper goes through various facets of the debate regarding the issue, it talks about the history of the nation with death penalty, its constitutional validity, the doctrine of ‘Rarest of the Rare’, and whether its pros outweigh its cons or not.

The research article titled “Death Penalty in India: A Critical Study” by Ms. Ravi, Advocate,at The Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh,India, is a good introduction to the topic as it goes through the definition of death penalty, the various crimes which are punishable by death penalty, the positive and negative aspects of death penalty and the landmark cases regarding the matter of death penalty.

The research article titled “Capital Punishment: A comparative study” by Abhinav Narayan goes through the provision of death penalty as it is implemented in various countries throughout the globe, the doctrine of the rarest of the rare, the law commission report of 2015, the rate of punishment and commutation in case of death penalty in the country.

History of Death Penalty

Death penalty or Capital Punishment is an age old provision and has existed in basically every society that has ever existed on the face of the earth. In India it has existed since time immemorial as a punishment for very grave crimes. The ancient Indian epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana point out that the king’s primary function was to keep his people safe and death penalty was not wrong. Even the famed king Ashoka who later in his life became a Buddhist, did not abolish the death penalty in his kingdom. In the medieval period during the Mughal rule and later the British rule, the death penalty became very common, and was used as a threat against the people fighting against the foreign rulers. Since independence, the death penalty has become a rarity and according to the government statistics only 57 people have been executed in the country post-independence.

Arguments For Death Penalty

1. An Effective Deterrent- Death penalty acts an effective deterrent, by executing the criminals who commit the most heinous of crimes, it can be used as a deterrent against those who might commit such crimes in the future. The fear for one’s life can definitely act as a strong deterrent against heinous crimes.

2. Burden on the Taxpayer- A lot more life imprisonment sentences are given to criminals than capital punishments and the taxpayers pay for feeding and housing these criminals. While it is perfectly fine to burden the taxpayers with taking care of these people who have been sentenced to life imprisonment if they have not committed the most brutal of crimes and it is moral duty of ours as a society to do so. But to make the taxpayer shoulder the economic burden for criminals like Ajmal Kasab who was a terrorist convicted for the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai and the convicts in the infamous Nirbhaya rape case in Delhi would be an injustice to the common people of the country.

3. Punishment fits the Crime- It is undoubtedly true that the purpose of the justice system should ideally be the rehabilitation of the criminal and not just mere punishment. This rule should apply in almost every single case          but in the rarest of the rare cases. Certain crimes are so heinous and gruesome that the only way justice could prevail would be by executing the criminal.

4. Moral Obligation- The crimes like mass murder and child rape are so anti-human and goes against every fibre of being a human to such an extent  that it becomes a moral obligation of a society to punish the criminal in the harshest way possible.

5. Retribution- For the most gruesome crimes, Capital Punishment acts as sort of a retribution for the society and the families of the victims, it provides society with a sense of justice.

Arguments against Death Penalty and why they don’t Stand on solid ground

1.  It is irreversible- The argument presented against death penalty is that once its done, its done, there is no reversing it. What the argument misses is that that’s the whole point of it, the criminals who commit the rarest of the rare crimes and the charges are proved against them without any reasonable doubt whatsoever, do deserve the capital punishment.

2. It is applies unfairly- The argument that the people belonging to the disadvantaged groups of society are the ones that are often subjected to the death penalty are missing the point that while their grievance does have weight, it is not against the death penalty itself, but against the biases the justice system might have and the way in which people are sentenced to death.

3. It violates human rights- The argument that capital punishment violates the human rights of a person, that too the most important one, the right to life, is very common but erroneous argument as it forgets the fact the death penalty isn’t something that innocent people are subjected to, it forgets that even murderers, more often than not, are not subjected to capital punishment and it is only the worst of criminals that are subjected to death penalty. The person who commits the most gruesome and heinous of crimes, forfeits his right to life in a civil society the moment he crosses the critical threshold of violating the right to life of another human being or human beings and that too in the most heinous of ways.

4. No room for Rehabilitation- The argument that death penalty does not allow for rehabilitation misses the point that the idea of rehabilitation applies to only those for whom the hope the rehabilitation is left, not for Ajmal Ksabas of this world.

1. BBC 2. Encyclopedia Brittanica 3. DW.com 4.https://loksabhadocs.nic.in/Refinput/New_Reference_Notes/English/CAPITAL_PUNISHMENT _IN_INDIA.pdf 5. The Print 6. Indian Bar Association