Capital Punishment

Capital punishment in India, also known as "the death penalty," is an institutionalised practice that involves deliberately executing people in response to actual or alleged misconduct after going through an authorised, rule-governed process to determine that the person is responsible for violating norms that justify execution. Historically, a wide range of authorities have carried out punitive executions for many reasons, such as the absence of substantial due process standards, a status that is beyond one's control, or political or religious ideas and practices.

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This Story also Contains

1. Meaning of Capital Punishment in India
2. Related Laws Capital Punishment In India
3. Theories and Kinds of Punishment
4. Theories of Punishment
5. History of the Death Penalty in India
6. What is the current scenario of capital punishment in India?
7. Status of Capital Punishment Across World
8. Case Laws
9. Conclusion

Punitive killings have also been and continue to be carried out informally, by terrorist groups, urban gangs, or mobs. However, for decades in Europe and America, arguments have centred on death punishment as an institutionalised, rule-governed practice of contemporary nations and legal systems overseeing major criminal behaviour and processes.

Meaning of Capital Punishment in India

The name 'capital' comes from the Latin word 'capitalis', which means "concerning the head." Thus, capital punishment meaning is to losing one's head.

The term "death penalty" is occasionally used synonymously with "capital punishment." However, even if the punishment is upheld on appeal, it may not result in execution owing to the potential of commutation to life imprisonment. The word "Capital Punishment" refers to the most severe kind of punishment. The penalty is for the most severe crimes against humanity. The definition and severity of crimes vary by nation, state, and age, but the death penalty remains the same. In jurisprudence, criminology, and penology, a capital sentence refers to the death penalty.

Related Laws Capital Punishment In India

The capital penalty is the worst type of punishment available. It serves as the punishment for the most heinous and significant crimes against humanity. The Indian Penal Code states that several offences are punishable by life in prison or the death sentence. Among them are:

• Murder (Section 302)

• Dacoity with murder (Section 396)

• Criminal Conspiracy (Section 120B)

• Waging war against the Government of India or attempting to do so (Section 121)

• Abatement of mutiny (Section 132) and others.

The terms "death penalty" and "capital punishment" are occasionally used interchangeably. However, under Article 72 of the Indian Constitution, the President may choose to commute the sentence to life in prison or grant a pardon.

Theories and Kinds of Punishment

Punishment is the instant repercussion that a criminal conduct results in. Therefore, suffering, loss, pain, or any other penalty meted out by the relevant government to an individual for a crime is considered punishment. Different legal doctrines exist about punishment.

Theories of Punishment

A person may be subjected to a variety of penalties. We must first comprehend the theories behind the punishment to comprehend them. Four main conceptions of punishment exist. The preventative theory, retributive theory, reformative theory, and deterrent theory are these theories. We will discuss these theories at length below;

Deterrent Theory

According to the retributive approach, punishment is meted out purely arbitrarily. It implies, then, that evil ought to be met with more evil without regard for the repercussions. This hypothesis may be further subdivided into two hypotheses. There are two types of deterrence: broad and specialised. Punishment is intended to educate offenders to specifically dissuade them from committing crimes. As a result, the offenders who are exposed to this notion may undergo reform. Furthermore, it is argued that punishment transforms offenders. This is accomplished by instilling a dread that the penalty will be meted out again.

Retributive Theory

Punishment has historically been justified by retaliation. According to this view, someone who commits wrongdoing should be punished. Furthermore, according to this argument, no one will be arrested until they have breached the law. The following circumstances define when someone is deemed to be an offender:

• The punishment meted out will be commensurate with the offence the offender committed.

• Committed a crime for which they were culpable.

• That equivalent punishments have been meted out to comparable individuals.

• That he alone was accountable for the deed done and that it was his own. He was also fully aware of the sanctions system and its potential repercussions.

Preventive Theory

This philosophy has employed the restriction that an offender faces execution, exile, or jail if they commit the same crime again. The idea that society has to be shielded from criminals is what gives the theory its significance. In this case, defence and unity are the penalties. Contemporary criminologists have an alternative perspective on the preventative theory. Their initial realisation was that society needed to be freed from social and economic pressures. People who behave in an antisocial manner also need to be observed. Both biological and psychological disabilities are to blame for this.

Reformative Theory

Examples of classical and non-classical ideologies include retributive and deterrent. The reformative theory emerged from the positive hypothesis, which maintains that positive thinking is the primary source of crime. Accordingly, this theory maintains that the offender's rehabilitation must be the primary objective of punishment. As such, this is not a virtual punishment, but a healing process. As a result, this procedure does all in its power to turn a criminal into a decent citizen. It also transforms the citizen into an honourable straight man and a worthwhile citizen.

Aristotle's opinion on punishment;

According to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, punishment functions as a kind of remedy. But Aristotle's writings include no clear and sophisticated theory of punishment; instead, all references to punishment are contained in works that range greatly in their foci and in the situations in which they are discussed. According to Aristotle, the severity of a penalty should be determined by the agent's mindset at the time of the offence.

History of the Death Penalty in India

Since the dawn of civilizations, the death penalty has been widely used. Without nobody to criticise him, the monarch is free to execute whoever he pleases. Throughout history, the death penalty has been widely used—not just in India but all around the world. To be more organised, the history of the death penalty in India is separated into the following four categories:

1. Death penalty under the Hindu law

Punishment has been a feature of civilization from its inception. The death penalty and exile were two easy ways to get rid of society's undesirable elements; they were the best forms of retaliation and deterrence. Hindu civilization has a lengthy history of implementing the death punishment. Ancient books and manuscripts make allusion to the death penalty. In the Hindu legal system, the death penalty was not considered barbaric; instead, it was substituted with as much torture as possible in order to impose a harsh punishment on society.

Evidence of death penalty artefacts dating back to the fourth century has been discovered. Kalidas has done a good job of demonstrating why the death penalty is necessary. The death penalty has also been supported by historical and legendary epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata, which contend that the king's primary duty is to defend society from all dangers, which may be achieved by putting the culprit to death

Moreover, Brahaspati and Katyayana were both in support of the death sentence. Ashoka did not think the death penalty was unjust, even during the Buddha's time when ahimsa was the standard of conduct.

Deterrence and mental wellness were the cornerstones of the Indian Dand Niti movement. The criminal justice system in India surely incorporates the ideas of social security and non-correctional philosophy.

Manu has done an excellent job of recording both objective and subjective events. Manu's well-known piece, Manu Smriti, illustrates the crime and the victim's powerlessness. Because he thinks the death penalty is a crucial tool for ensuring public safety, Kautilya has discussed it in his works.

2. The death penalty under Muslim law

To prevent more horrific crimes from happening in society, as needed by Sharia Law, the Qur'an allows for the taking of life by authority other than Allah through the proper process of law and justice.

The following are the offences listed according to Sharia law;

• Had crimes: The crimes that impacted the community were known as 'Had' or 'Huhud', which alludes to the retribution decreed by Allah himself.

• Tazir crimes: The second type of such offence is one for which a taser or criminal offence has been committed.

• Along with Diyut, Qisas crimes are the third type of social crime (blood money). The following offences were protected by Qisas: deliberate or unintentional hurt attempted intentional or accidental murder, and purposeful or felonious murder.

Each of these three types of crime has a distinct punishment that varies according to the degree of the act.

3. Death penalty under the Mughal empire

The powerful Mughal Empire dominated India's mediaeval history. The Quranic laws were principally used in their administration. There was no consistent implementation of the law throughout the world, and when conflicts arose, judges relied heavily on Quranic precepts while still having the right to impose arbitrary punishments.

Akbar held highly liberal views; he thought that the death sentence should only be used after careful consideration and only for major sedition crimes. He also felt that no death should be followed by brutal treatment, such as mutilation or other inhumane practices. The laws of Jahangir and Aurangzeb were identical.

4. Death punishment in the pre-and post-independence eras

The death penalty was not discussed in the legislative assembly of British India until 1931 when Bihar member Shri Gaya Prasad Singh attempted to introduce a bill that would have abolished the death penalty for crimes covered by the Indian Penal Code. But the way the then-home minister responded to the plan meant it was lost. During debates in the Legislative Assembly before to independence, the government's position on the death penalty in British India was expressed twice by the then-home minister, Sir John Thorne.

Following its independence, the Republic of India issued a number of colonial-era legislation, including the Indian Penal Code of 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898. The IPC issued six punishments, including death. Capital Punishment under IPC has been given for the offences of Murder, Rape, etc.

What is the current scenario of capital punishment in India?

• From 2007 to 2022, the Supreme Court only imposed the capital penalty on seven individuals, according to Project 39A's "Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics 2022" study.

• Since none of the death sentences fit the definition of the "rarest of rare cases," they were all either set aside or commuted to life in 2023.

• Trial courts that execute death sentences: In 2022, trial courts executed 165 people, the highest number in almost 20 years.

• In 98.3% of capital cases, trial judges made their verdicts "without any materials on mitigating circumstances of the accused and without any state-led evidence on the question of reform."

• Statutory Provision: Under the Air Force Act of 1950, the Army Act of 1950, and the Navy Act of 1957, there are penalties for violations such as hanging or death by gunshot.

Status of Capital Punishment Across World

Over 70% of nations worldwide have either outlawed or abolished the death penalty. Nonetheless, the death sentence is still applied in many nations around the world, particularly those with sizable populations and autocratic governments. 36 nations throughout the world still use it, and 103 have outright banned it for all offences.

• European Union: Article 2 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights forbids the death sentence.

• Members of the 47-nation Council of Europe are prohibited from applying the death penalty.

• UN General Assembly Resolution: In 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014, the UN General Assembly passed non-binding resolutions calling for an international moratorium on executions with the eventual objective of doing away with them entirely.

• Even though the death penalty has been abolished in many other nations (though it is still seldom employed in India and many US states), it is still in use in China, India, the US, and Indonesia.

• All four of these nations have consistently refrained from voting on General Assembly resolutions.

• In the United States, the most common means of execution have included gas chambers, ring squads, hanging, electrocution, and lethal injection. The Supreme Court has never declared an execution method to be unconstitutional, despite state courts having declared that several methods are illegal.

Case Laws

1. Jagmohan Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh (1972)

The death sentence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, which had been questioned in this case, was upheld as constitutionally legitimate by the Supreme Court in a historic ruling in the Jagmohan Singh v. The State of Uttar Pradesh case. The court based its decision on the guarantees of equality, freedom, and the right to life provided by the Indian Constitution.

Discussions on this topic have given rise to criticism regarding whether the death penalty is consistent with the Indian Constitution's philosophy of due process and whether it violates the right to life, which is an inalienable and natural right by human birth.

2. Rajender Prasad v. State of Uttar Pradesh

Here, the recruitment to the ministerial Group "C" posts in the subordinate offices is the subject of our concern, which is in line with the 2001 Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Offices Ministerial Group "C" Posts of the Lowest Grade (Recruitment by Promotion) Rules (or simply, "the said Rules").

The aforementioned Rules were created in the exercise of the authority granted by the proviso to Article 309 of the Indian Constitution. Rule 5 of the aforementioned Rules states that promotion through the Selection Committee from individuals who have been substantively appointed in Group "D" posts will be used to fill 20% of the vacancies of the ministerial Group "C" posts of the lowest grade.

3. Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab (1980)

It is a well-known and historic decision that is recognised for having helped shape the body of law surrounding the death sentence. It addressed whether the death sentence was constitutionally permissible and looked at whether it aligned with the Indian Constitution's articles. The question in this case was whether the process for sentencing a convicted individual under Section 354(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (henceforth referred to as the "CrPC") is unconstitutional. The decision to impose the death penalty or not is entirely up to the judges, who are granted unrestricted authority.

This case, which was decided by a panel of five judges, is widely recognised as a landmark decision because it established the "rarest of the rare" theory, which is used to determine whether to execute an accused person.

Conclusion

India has long practised the death sentence, sometimes referred to as the capital punishment. The death sentence has been India's most popular punishment for crimes and acts that blatantly break the law since the days of the monarchy. There was no idea of egregious or serious offences that may justify the death penalty. In the contemporary period, ideas such as 'rarest of rare cases,'' special causes,' 'grievous crimes,'' serious acts,' and so on are considered before inflicting the death sentence. As a result, eliminating the death penalty would put the nation in danger since the State would be powerless to act when the rarest of rare circumstances arose.