DEATH PENALTY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES IN DEMOCRATIC INDIA: ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Abstract

Contextualization: Among the debates raging the world regarding the maintenance or abolition of the death penalty, involving various stake holders, its evolution in India has been a subject matter of intense social and judicial discussion. Criminologists and penologists are involved in intensive study and research to know the answer to some constantly puzzling questions in regard to the imposition of death penalty.

Objective: This article aims to outline the international scenario and analyse the constitutional law, substantive law and the policy governing the imposition of death penalty in democratic India in the context of civil liberties, particularly due to the delay in execution of sentences and the coinage of the expression rarests of rare cases.  This paper also intends to examine the most recent executions carried out in India and the concerns involved.

Methodology: The research uses the inductive method and a literature review.

Results: There are several considerations in the administration of criminal justice in India that must be fulfilled whilst awarding the death penalty. The delay in execution of death sentences violates basic human rights as convicts are living with the terror of death. The test of weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances is crucial to the confirmation of death penalty by the Supreme Court of India.