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SHOULD CAPITAL PUNISHMENT BE ABOLISHED?

Capital punishment, Death Penalty, or execution is the infliction of death upon a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The practice of capital Punishment is as old as government itself. Capital punishment or in easier terms the death penalty is applied to people who have done various forms of bad behavior. Method of execution are crucifixion, stoning, drowning, impaling, and beheading but in such present time execution is formed by lethal gas or injections, electrocution, hanging, or shooting. Killing someone is always inhuman and it is like murdering legally.

In India, death sentence was last carried out in 2004 when one Dhananjay Chatterjee was hanged for rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Kolkata. Here the question to ask is,has the execution of Dhananjay Chatterjee stopped rapes in our society? Has the number of rape cases declined? No, these crimes are increasing day by day. If we look at hanging cases, there is hardly any positive effect of death penalty. In my view if we look at our national crime statistics, death penalty has not proved to be a deterrent. The reality is that the death penalty is a barbaric exercise in which no civilized society should participate. Capital punishment is a flawed aspect of the judicial system in our country.The rigorous life in prison would be a far worse punishment than a swift death and in the case of terrorists; they took the job fully prepared to die for their cause.I strongly feel, we have to reform our laws especially for death penalty. Our laws should be such that a punishment should be so rigorous that it should remind not only to the offenders/ terrorists/culprits but also it should be a living example for the people around him about his inhuman acts.

On 10 October 2015, the 13th World Day Against the Death Penalty raised awareness around the application of the death penalty for drug-related offences, to reduce its use. In December 2014, the United Nations’ General Assembly voted on a new resolution for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Post Contributed By:

Laxmi Khawas

Indian Institute of Legal Studies

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