The death sentence

IT is reported that there were 385 persons awaiting capital punishment as of January 2015. Nearly two thirds of them belonged to the backward classes, religious minorities, dalits and adivasis. Two thirds of them belonged to the economically underprivileged and 80% of them had not completed their school education. A great many of them have to go through custodial torture and many of them actually admit to their guilt in police custody. Hardly 70% had any dealings with lawyers. Less than 5% of the death sentences delivered by lower courts are confirmed by the Supreme Court. That can only confirm a simple belief. It is that the lower courts rarely adhere to the principle that capital punishment can be delivered only in the rarest of rare cases. It is also to be noted that 25% of the convicts are juvenile and 8% of them have no past record of criminality. It may be argued therefore that capital punishment should at least be suspended till the judicial system is thoroughly overhauled. After a court delivers the death penalty to the accused, there is hardly any scope for remedial action which strengthens the argument for the abolition of capital punishment. 120 countries in the world have abolished capital punishment without any rethinking on the issue. It is also arguable that the death penalty is not in any society a deterrent against heinous crimes. In India, the Law Commission proposed abolition on the death penalty in a phased manner last August. However, against all these arguments can be mentioned the recommendations of the Verma commission. One does not know what should be done in the cases of brutal rape and murder