Should Capital Punishment Be Abolish ?”
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ABOLITION OR RETENTION OF DEATH PENALTY IN INDIA:
A CRITICAL REAPPRAISAL
ARNIM AGRAWAL♣
Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future
V. R. Krishna Iyer, J.1
I. INTRODUCTION
There has been a long quest of human beings to curb and control deviance and promote conformity to normative behaviour in human culture since times immemorial. Various ways and means have been attempted in this direction. The criminologists, jurists, sociologists and legal professionals have dealt with various aspects of the crime and the penal systems. Death penalty is one of the most debated, ancient forms of punishment in almost every society. Despite countless studies, several researches and plenty of experiments no conclusions have been reached yet, which can be socially, morally and legally accepted. India has also been witnessing this debate.2 This debate was revived in India when all the 26 defendants in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case were sentenced to death.
Recently, a court awarded death sentence to Dubai based underworld don Aftab
Ansari and six others for the attack outside the American Centre that left five policemen dead.3
The execution of Dhananjoy Chatterjee4, on 14th August 2004 had once again revived this debate all over India. Dhananjoy Chatterjee was a security guard of a housing society in West Bengal who raped and murdered a school girl of that housing society.
“Public outrage brought back the debate on death penalty centre stage in a case which abolitionists found difficult to defend. However, the
♣
The author is presently a student of Fifth Year, B.Com, LL.B. (Hons.)~An integrated five years graduation degree in law from the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar (India).
1
Pillai P.S.A., Criminal Law, 9th Edition, 2000, Butterworths India, New Delhi, p. 286.
2
Should capital punishment be abolished? The Times of India, June 27, 2004.
3
Gallows for seven in Kolkata American Centre attack, The Times of India,
ABOLITION OR RETENTION OF DEATH PENALTY IN INDIA:
A CRITICAL REAPPRAISAL
ARNIM AGRAWAL♣
Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future
V. R. Krishna Iyer, J.1
I. INTRODUCTION
There has been a long quest of human beings to curb and control deviance and promote conformity to normative behaviour in human culture since times immemorial. Various ways and means have been attempted in this direction. The criminologists, jurists, sociologists and legal professionals have dealt with various aspects of the crime and the penal systems. Death penalty is one of the most debated, ancient forms of punishment in almost every society. Despite countless studies, several researches and plenty of experiments no conclusions have been reached yet, which can be socially, morally and legally accepted. India has also been witnessing this debate.2 This debate was revived in India when all the 26 defendants in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case were sentenced to death.
Recently, a court awarded death sentence to Dubai based underworld don Aftab
Ansari and six others for the attack outside the American Centre that left five policemen dead.3
The execution of Dhananjoy Chatterjee4, on 14th August 2004 had once again revived this debate all over India. Dhananjoy Chatterjee was a security guard of a housing society in West Bengal who raped and murdered a school girl of that housing society.
“Public outrage brought back the debate on death penalty centre stage in a case which abolitionists found difficult to defend. However, the
♣
The author is presently a student of Fifth Year, B.Com, LL.B. (Hons.)~An integrated five years graduation degree in law from the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar (India).
1
Pillai P.S.A., Criminal Law, 9th Edition, 2000, Butterworths India, New Delhi, p. 286.
2
Should capital punishment be abolished? The Times of India, June 27, 2004.
3
Gallows for seven in Kolkata American Centre attack, The Times of India,