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Journalism of Courage
At a time when the Centre and President are still to take a final call on the mercy petition of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and others like him who have appealed against death sentences,the Ministry of Affairs (MHA) is set to put in motion a plan to provide an alternate mode of death to those on death row.
Sources said the MHA move draws strength from the unequivocal support from state governments to a suggestion that death by hanging be replaced by execution through lethal injection.
According to data compiled by MHA and accessed by The Sunday Express,barring a few states that didnt respond to the query on whether a humane mode of execution of death sentence such as lethal injection should be adopted in place of the existing system of hanging,almost all states have come out strongly in its favour.
Most states which responded to the MHA query have also recommended that when cases involving death penalty come up before the Supreme Court,they should be decided by a bench comprising at least five judges. For this,the states want the Supreme Court rules suitably amended.
We will take the matter (for changing manner in which death penalty is executed) to the Cabinet for approval as the same involves amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC),1973, said senior MHA functionary.
Under Section 354(5) of the CrPC Act,the mode of execution of death sentence now is hanging till death.
In fact,Tamil Nadu has gone a step further,saying capital punishment should be completely done away with as is the case in many countries worldwide. The government of Kerala,while supporting the proposal,has also suggested that cyanide could also be administered to put the convict to death.
Among the states that have supported a shift from the present system of hanging to death by lethal injection are Chhattisgarh,Goa,Haryana,Himachal Pradesh,Punjab,Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh,Orissa and Delhi.
Former Union Law Secretary and Adviser to Law Minister T K Vishwanathan feels while it is not possible currently in view of terror-related cases to completely do away with death penalty as has been done by many countries,replacing the mode of inflicting death would be a welcome step.
When the matter was being discussed by the Commission,women organisations were opposed to any move to do away with death penalty,holding if this were to happen,rapists and murderers would get emboldened, recalled Vishwanathan who has remained Member-Secretary of the Law Commission.
In 1982,the Supreme Court,ruling in the case of Bachan Singh versus State of Punjab,observed that physical pain and suffering which the execution of the sentence of death entails was also no less cruel and inhuman. The Law Commission in October 2003 also recommended that the law be amended to provide for an alternative mode of execution of death sentence by lethal injection until the accused is dead.
In its 187th report,the Commission also recommended that it should be the judges discretion to pass an appropriate order regarding the mode of execution of death sentence after hearing the convict.
The Commission also recommended that all death sentence cases be compulsorily heard by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court by way of a statutory right of appeal against the judgment of the High Court confirming or awarding the death sentence. It also favoured amendments to the Army Act,1950,Navy Act,1957 and Air Force Act,1950 to allow appeal to the Supreme Court against the order of death sentence passed by a court martial.
