Capital Punishment

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

"The death penalty" or "Capital punishment" is the most severe punishment granted in any society or popular government to keep up lawfulness. Be that as it may, killing another person in the name of justice is no better than murdering somebody. We should concentrate on dispensing with the wrongdoing not the crook. China is the only nation on the planet where the act of capital punishment is still at its top with more than 1000 executions consistently, though in India the tenet of "Rarest of the Rare" is followed and frequently capital punishment gets commuted to life imprisonment. United Nation (UN) opposed the concept of death penalty and stated that “Life is precious, and death is irrevocable”. Further UN also said that killing another human being in the name of justice also kills the fact that we are human. We are no one to decide who gets to live and who gets to die. Therefore instead of hanging someone to death we should adapt a different approach i.e. the reformative approach so that one could improve himself and can live peacefully thereafter.

There are two types of ‘Theories of Punishment’ Reformative Theory has its fair share of advantage over Preventive Theory. Because, in Reformative Theory there is a ‘Scope of Improvement’ present whereas in Preventive Theory this scope is completely absent.

• “An eye for any eye turns the world blind” –Mahatama Gandhi. Crime is a disease, and it should be treated rather than taking an easier way out of culling. Sometimes it’s the mental health of the criminal and sometimes it’s all about the troubled life he’s had because of the society.
• India follows Preventive Theory. This theory is all about killing the criminal and gives him no chance at redemption and no chance at reformation.

If we discuss Capital Punishment with the members of our society then we will be getting two views from it. There will be a section of people who believes that, the person who has committed the crime deserves to die. Whereas, on the other hand there will be people with the view that, the person who committed the crime should be given a second chance, it is not our place to decide who gets to live and who gets to die. Further, taking away a life of an individual in the name of law is not justice. Whenever a Punishment is awarded for the wrong doing there are two main reasons for inflicting such punishment.

1.) One is that the person who committed the wrong must suffer for it.

2.) And, the other one is that inflicting punishment on wrongdoer acts as an example for others.

In India deciding the case for death penalty is based on doctrine of “rarest of the rare test” which was stated in the case of Bachan Singh V. State of Punjab. Which means that death penalty will only be awarded in rarest of rare cases only.

Law Commission Report of 2015

 India’s Law Commission in its 262nd Report (August 2015) recommended that the concept of death penalty should be abolished for all crimes other than terrorism related offences to safeguard national security. The Law Commission in its previous review in the year 1967, the commission concluded that India couldn’t risk the “experiment of abolition of capital punishment”. But in 2015 the Commission stated that “the commission feels that the time has come for India to move towards abolition of the death penalty”. Despite the fact that death sentences are rarely executed in India, still the commission suggested that the penalty should be abolished. The commission gave following reasons:-

 1. Times have changed.

 2   It’s not a Deterrent.

3.  India’s justice system is flawed

CONCLUSION

When a death penalty is awarded to the accused it is more than mere a punishment, we are ending or killing a person in name of justice and law. Killing a person is immoral and it demonstrates the lack of respect towards human life. And opposing death penalty doesn’t mean that someone is supporting the criminal. When a death penalty is awarded it eliminates the scope of improvement which could have changed the life of an individual, this is the reason why democracies around the world are supporting reformative theory of punishment and abolishing preventive theory of punishment. “Even the vilest criminal remains a human being possessed of common human dignity”. We are no one to decide who gets to live and who gets to die on the basis of rules and regulations which we made ourselves. It is true that a criminal needs to be punished for the crimes he committed but we as a civilization need to move in the direction of eliminating the offense, not the illegal. This is the main difference between humans and animals. We have been given a precious gift – ‘we are a human’ and killing another human being falsify the mere purpose of being a human being.

 We call ourselves a ‘civilized society’ but we kill another human being in the name of justice. The principle of death penalty is based on preventive theory which in generic terms set an example by inflicting fear on the mind of others but there are certain other ways by which a leading example can be set such as in reformative theory.