Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::index() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 150
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 97
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::index() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 151
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 97
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
if (Configure::read('debug')) {
trigger_error($message, E_USER_WARNING);
} else {
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {
'status' => (int) 200,
'contentType' => 'text/html',
'headers' => [
'Content-Type' => [
[maximum depth reached]
]
],
'file' => null,
'fileRange' => [],
'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
'cacheDirectives' => [],
'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html>
<!--[if lt IE 7 ]>
<html class="ie ie6" lang='en'> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 7 ]>
<html class="ie ie7" lang='en'> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 8 ]>
<html class="ie ie8" lang='en'> <![endif]-->
<!--[if (gte IE 9)|!(IE)]><!-->
<html lang='en'>
<!--<![endif]-->
<head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal </title>
<meta name="description" content="
-The Hindu
When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial
The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on..."/>
<meta name="keywords" content="capital punishment,Human Rights,Law and Justice,crime"/>
<meta name="news_keywords" content="capital punishment,Human Rights,Law and Justice,crime">
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="ROR" href="/ror.xml"/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="/feeds/"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/bootstrap.min.css?1697864993"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style.css?v=1.1.2"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style-inner.css?1577045210"/> <link rel="stylesheet" id="Oswald-css"
href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Oswald%3Aregular%2C700&ver=3.8.1" type="text/css"
media="all">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/jquery.modal.min.css?1578285302"/> <script src="/js/jquery-1.10.2.js?1575549704"></script> <script src="/js/jquery-migrate.min.js?1575549704"></script> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" title="Favicon">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/jquery-ui.css?1580720609"/> <script src="/js/jquery-ui.js?1575549704"></script> <link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/custom.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/jquery.modal.min.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/jquery-ui.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/li-scroller.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<!-- <link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/style.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous"> -->
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/style-inner.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel='dns-prefetch' href="//im4change.org/css/custom.css" crossorigin >
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/bootstrap.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery.li-scroller.1.0.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery.modal.min.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery.ui.totop.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery-1.10.2.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery-migrate.min.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery-ui.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/setting.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/tie-scripts.js">
<!--[if IE]>
<script type="text/javascript">jQuery(document).ready(function () {
jQuery(".menu-item").has("ul").children("a").attr("aria-haspopup", "true");
});</script>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script src="/js/html5.js"></script>
<script src="/js/selectivizr-min.js"></script>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 8]>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="/css/ie8.css"/>
<![endif]-->
<meta property="og:title" content="LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html" />
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="og:description" content="
-The Hindu
When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial
The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on..." />
<meta property="og:image" content="" />
<meta property="fb:app_id" content="0" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple1.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple2.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple3.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple4.png">
<style>
.gsc-results-wrapper-overlay{
top: 38% !important;
height: 50% !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2{
border-color: #035588 !important;
background-color: #035588 !important;
}
.gsib_a{
height: 30px !important;
padding: 2px 8px 1px 6px !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2{
height: 41px !important;
}
input.gsc-input{
background: none !important;
}
@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {
.gsc-results-wrapper-overlay{
top: 11% !important;
width: 87% !important;
left: 9% !important;
height: 43% !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2{
padding: 10px 10px !important;
}
.gsc-input-box{
height: 28px !important;
}
/* .gsib_a {
padding: 0px 9px 4px 9px !important;
}*/
}
@media only screen and (min-width: 1200px) and (max-width: 1920px) {
table.gsc-search-box{
width: 15% !important;
float: right !important;
margin-top: -118px !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2 {
padding: 6px !important;
}
}
</style>
<script>
$(function () {
$("#accordion").accordion({
event: "click hoverintent"
});
});
/*
* hoverIntent | Copyright 2011 Brian Cherne
* http://cherne.net/brian/resources/jquery.hoverIntent.html
* modified by the jQuery UI team
*/
$.event.special.hoverintent = {
setup: function () {
$(this).bind("mouseover", jQuery.event.special.hoverintent.handler);
},
teardown: function () {
$(this).unbind("mouseover", jQuery.event.special.hoverintent.handler);
},
handler: function (event) {
var currentX, currentY, timeout,
args = arguments,
target = $(event.target),
previousX = event.pageX,
previousY = event.pageY;
function track(event) {
currentX = event.pageX;
currentY = event.pageY;
}
;
function clear() {
target
.unbind("mousemove", track)
.unbind("mouseout", clear);
clearTimeout(timeout);
}
function handler() {
var prop,
orig = event;
if ((Math.abs(previousX - currentX) +
Math.abs(previousY - currentY)) < 7) {
clear();
event = $.Event("hoverintent");
for (prop in orig) {
if (!(prop in event)) {
event[prop] = orig[prop];
}
}
// Prevent accessing the original event since the new event
// is fired asynchronously and the old event is no longer
// usable (#6028)
delete event.originalEvent;
target.trigger(event);
} else {
previousX = currentX;
previousY = currentY;
timeout = setTimeout(handler, 100);
}
}
timeout = setTimeout(handler, 100);
target.bind({
mousemove: track,
mouseout: clear
});
}
};
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-472075-3']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function () {
var ga = document.createElement('script');
ga.type = 'text/javascript';
ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/custom.css?v=1.16"/> <script src="/js/jquery.ui.totop.js?1575549704"></script> <script src="/js/setting.js?1575549704"></script> <link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.json">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#616163" />
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="im4change">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/icons/logo-192x192.png">
</head>
<body id="top" class="home inner blog">
<div class="background-cover"></div>
<div class="wrapper animated">
<header id="theme-header" class="header_inner" style="position: relative;">
<div class="logo inner_logo" style="left:20px !important">
<a title="Home" href="https://im4change.in/">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo2.jpg?1582080632" class="logo_image" alt="im4change"/> </a>
</div>
<div class="langhindi" style="color: #000;display:none;"
href="https://im4change.in/">
<a class="more-link" href="https://im4change.in/">Home</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/hindi/" class="langbutton ">हिन्दी</a>
</div>
<nav class="fade-in animated2" id="main-nav">
<div class="container">
<div class="main-menu">
<ul class="menu" id="menu-main">
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children"
style="left: -40px;"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/">Home</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item mega-menu menu-item-type-taxonomy mega-menu menu-item-object-category mega-menu menu-item-has-children parent-list"
style=" margin-left: -40px;"><a href="#">KNOWLEDGE GATEWAY <span class="sub-indicator"></span>
</a>
<div class="mega-menu-block background_menu" style="padding-top:25px;">
<div class="container">
<div class="mega-menu-content">
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Farm Crisis</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/farmers039-suicides-14.html"
class="left postionrel">Farm Suicides </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/unemployment-30.html"
class="left postionrel">Unemployment </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/rural-distress-70.html"
class="left postionrel">Rural distress </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/migration-34.html"
class="left postionrel">Migration </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/key-facts-72.html"
class="left postionrel">Key Facts </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/debt-trap-15.html"
class="left postionrel">Debt Trap </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Empowerment</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/union-budget-73.html"
class="left postionrel">Union Budget And Other Economic Policies </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/forest-and-tribal-rights-61.html"
class="left postionrel">Forest and Tribal Rights </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-education-60.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Education </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-food-59.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Food </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/displacement-3279.html"
class="left postionrel">Displacement </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-work-mg-nrega-39.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Work (MG-NREGA) </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/gender-3280.html"
class="left postionrel">GENDER </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-information-58.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Information </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/social-audit-48.html"
class="left postionrel">Social Audit </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Hunger / HDI</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/poverty-and-inequality-20499.html"
class="left postionrel">Poverty and inequality </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/malnutrition-41.html"
class="left postionrel">Malnutrition </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/public-health-51.html"
class="left postionrel">Public Health </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/education-50.html"
class="left postionrel">Education </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/hunger-overview-40.html"
class="left postionrel">Hunger Overview </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/hdi-overview-45.html"
class="left postionrel">HDI Overview </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/pds-ration-food-security-42.html"
class="left postionrel">PDS/ Ration/ Food Security </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/sdgs-113.html"
class="left postionrel">SDGs </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/mid-day-meal-scheme-mdms-53.html"
class="left postionrel">Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Environment</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/environment/time-bomb-ticking-52.html"
class="left postionrel">Time Bomb Ticking </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/environment/water-and-sanitation-55.html"
class="left postionrel">Water and Sanitation </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/environment/impact-on-agriculture-54.html"
class="left postionrel">Impact on Agriculture </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Law & Justice</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/social-justice-20500.html"
class="left postionrel">Social Justice </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/access-to-justice-47.html"
class="left postionrel">Access to Justice </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/human-rights-56.html"
class="left postionrel">Human Rights </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/corruption-35.html"
class="left postionrel">Corruption </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/general-insecurity-46.html"
class="left postionrel">General Insecurity </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/disaster-relief-49.html"
class="left postionrel">Disaster & Relief </a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page "><a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/nceus_reports.php">NCEUS reports</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children parent-list ">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/about-us-9.html">About Us <span
class="sub-indicator"></span></a>
<ul class="sub-menu aboutmenu">
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/objectives-8.html">Objectives</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/contactus.php">Contact
Us</a></li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/about-us-9.html">About
Us</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children ">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/fellowships.php" title="Fellowships">Fellowships</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children "><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/media-workshops.php">Workshops</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children "><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/research.php">Research</a></li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children "><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/links-64">Partners</a></li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children"
id="menu-item-539"><a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hindi/"
class="langbutton langlinkfont17">हिन्दी</a></li>
</ul>
</div> </div>
<!-- <div style="float: right;">
<script async src="https://cse.google.com/cse.js?cx=18b4f2e0f11bed3dd"></script>
<div class="gcse-search"></div>
</div> -->
<div class="search-block" style=" margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 7px;">
<form method="get" id="searchform" name="searchform"
action="https://im4change.in/search"
onsubmit="return searchvalidate();">
<button class="search-button" type="submit" value="Search"></button>
<input type="text" id="s" name="qryStr" value=""
onfocus="if (this.value == 'Search...') {this.value = '';}"
onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Search...';}">
</form>
</div>
</nav>
</header>
<div class="container">
<div id="main-content" class=" main1 container fade-in animated3 sidebar-narrow-left">
<div class="content-wrap">
<div class="content" style="width: 900px;min-height: 500px;">
<section class="cat-box recent-box innerCatRecent">
<h1 class="cat-box-title">Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal</h1>
<a href="JavaScript:void(0);" onclick="return shareArticle(22729);">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/email.png?1582080630" border="0" width="24" align="right" alt="Share this article"/> </a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883/print"
rel="nofollow">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/icon-print.png?1582080630" border="0" width="24" align="right" alt="Share this article"/>
</a>
</section>
<section class="recent-box innerCatRecent">
<small class="pb-1"><span class="dateIcn">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/published.svg?1582080666" alt="published"/>
Published on</span><span class="text-date"> Oct 3, 2013</span>
<span
class="dateIcn">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/modified.svg?1582080666" alt="modified"/> Modified on </span><span class="text-date"> Oct 3, 2013</span>
</small>
</section>
<div class="clear"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 10px;">
<div class="innerLineHeight">
<div class="middleContent innerInput latest-news-updates">
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<div>
<div align="justify">-The Hindu</div><p align="justify"><br /><em>When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial</em></p><p align="justify">The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on Supreme Court judgments, which stipulate that capital punishment will be imposed in "the rarest of rare" cases, where the community's "collective conscience is so shocked that it will expect the holders of the judicial power centre to inflict death penalty" because of the abhorrent nature of the crime, which would include "the manner of the commission of the murder," for instance, "if it was committed in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner," or where the victim was "subjected to inhuman acts of torture or cruelty in order to bring about his or her death."</p><p align="justify"><em>Dangerous</em></p><p align="justify">There are several dangers in a process in which a life is taken because that is what the community wants, as in the Roman amphitheatre, where the mob decided if the defeated gladiator should die. Apart from turning the judiciary into a khap panchayat, how does this august fraternity commune with the community, or divine that its conscience wants blood? In the 21st century, flooded as it is with 24-hour television and social media on tap, outrage can be manufactured, reality distorted. Even when, as after the Delhi crime, the revulsion was real and widespread, how does the judiciary determine that those who were shocked would only recover with the deaths of those who had shocked them? Diplomats, who must assess the mood of the country they are posted in, take it as given that the media only partially reflects it, since the strident few drown out the diffident majority. An Embassy spreads its tentacles wide, speaking to and gauging the mood of people in different sectors, levels and locations, to understand what they really want. No judge can do this. What a judge takes as the collective conscience of the community can only be the slant carried by the media. To base decisions on life and death on this is injudicious.</p><p align="justify">Secondly, what is the community whose conscience the judge must tap into and channel into a pronouncement of death? For a sessions judge, it will presumably be that of the local community. If that judgment is overturned on appeal, it can either mean that the judge had misread that conscience, or that the High Court felt that the conscience of the larger community of the State did not want blood. If the Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence, this would presumably mean that the national conscience was at one with the local, but that of the State concerned was out of step with both. Which is the segment of the community to whose conscience judges must defer? Logically, it should be the one most affected, which would imply that no sentence of death from a sessions court should be overturned. How does a judge in the State or Central capital determine that the local community had not been galvanised into bloodlust?</p><p align="justify">But what would happen, for instance, in the cases that should shortly come to trial for the murders in the recent communal violence in U.P.? The most appalling cruelty is committed during communal riots. One of the criteria invoked in the Delhi judgment to justify the death sentence, the barbaric and revolting nature of the murder, would apply. In these cases, however there would be no collective conscience to consult, since the community is split in two. Each half would demand the death sentence for the murderers from the other community, but mourn its own murderers as martyrs if they were hanged. In these cases, therefore, where one of the criteria laid down by the Supreme Court conflicts with the other, which will prevail?</p><p align="justify">Nor should we forget that, while the use of torture to bring about death is rare in crimes committed by individuals, it is routinely practised by the army and the paramilitary in States wracked by political violence. Unaccounted numbers of Kashmiris disappeared into the maws of Papa-II, the infamous torture chamber run by the paramilitary in Srinagar. Those bodies that were recovered bore marks of the most terrible torture. Very large numbers disappeared forever. To say that the collective conscience of the Kashmiri Muslim community is merely shocked would be an insult. It has lived with rage, pain and a searing sense of injustice for two decades; its tormenters have escaped with impunity, because the collective conscience of the rest of the country has not even been stirred.</p><p align="justify">Across our subcontinent, in Manipur, similar cases abound, including that of Thangjam Manorama, taken from her home in Imphal late at night by a unit of the Assam Rifles, led by two Majors, tortured with a knife, forced into her genitals in the presence of her family, tortured even more brutally later, raped and shot. Her body was not received by dignitaries, it was found lying in a ditch. There have been many other killings like this, but this one, like the gang rape case in Delhi, set off a storm, leading to a "naked protest" by Manipuri women in front of the paramilitary camp. If any crime matched both the criteria invoked in the Delhi judgment, the bestiality of the murder and the collective indignation it produced, this one did. However, the officers and men responsible are immune because the army's Court of Enquiry held they were all innocent.</p><p align="justify"><em>Justice not blind</em></p><p align="justify">These communities, and the tribals in the naxal belt, will argue bitterly that justice is not blind; it sees who you are and where you come from and, in its scales, the collective conscience of the community only registers when it has political weight. If you are a Kashmiri or a Manipuri, your shock is gossamer.</p><p align="justify">One of the crimes that the Supreme Court has laid down as likely to shock the collective conscience of the community is a "murder committed in the course of betrayal of the motherland." It appears murders committed in its ostensible defence do not shock. Patriotism is the last refuge of the serial torturer. If he walks free, though, why should others hang?</p><p align="justify">There is a further danger. Because public opinion is manipulated with modern technology, the outrage which the judiciary will interpret as an indignation that must be assuaged with blood can only be provoked by the technically adept, or those with the money to influence the media. The men sentenced to death in Delhi, and those hanged over the last year, were mostly from the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. Neither they nor their families had the financial or technical means to harness the media or the social media in their defence. There is, therefore, an inevitable class bias built into a process where a judge pronounces the verdict of death on the basis of a public outpouring of rage, which the accused have no means of contesting.</p><p align="justify">The brutality that brings their crimes into the ambit of the rarest of rare is bred into their lives. They have gone to bed hungry as children, suffered illnesses without medicine, defecated in the open, been savaged on the whims of adults, treated like dirt. Compassion has never touched them. Life has beaten sensitivity out of them. Men forced to live like brutes will kill like brutes. When these men, society's victims, find a victim, they take a lifetime's frustrations out on him or her. Their murders and rapes are unlikely to be refined. Their brutality might appal a court and nauseate the middle class, by whose standards they are judged, but it is a product of what the community has made of them. This is what should shock the collective conscience of the community.</p><p align="justify">Lastly, and most troublingly, if a man is to be hanged because the judge feels that the collective conscience is so shocked that it will expect him to inflict the death penalty, can a trial be fair, with the accused presumed to be innocent until he is proven guilty? If, before the trial starts, society has already made up its mind, in the judge's view, that it will only be satisfied with the death penalty, it has also determined who the guilty are. It is hard to believe that a judge can hear a case entirely on merits, and take popular sentiment into account only at the verdict. On the contrary, if it is now the law that a judge must impose the death penalty in cases where he has concluded that the community demands it, he would be shirking his duty if he were to absolve the men on trial, denying the community, whose servant he is, the satisfaction of a human sacrifice.</p><p align="justify">When the Supreme Court decreed that the death penalty should be imposed only in the rarest of rare cases, it tried, humanely and honourably, to prevent a rash of judicial killings, but the criteria it has laid down inherently lead to decisions that are, in every sense, fatally subjective. The road to the gallows might be paved with its good intentions, but on matters of life and death, the law cannot be so cruelly flawed.</p><p align="justify">Tarquin, Auden famously wrote, was ravished by his post-coital sadness. Is the "community" in India ever choked by a post-garroting remorse? Conscience is the uncomfortable reminder that we have done something wrong.</p><p align="justify">In a nation that aspires to be a modern democracy and claims to be a modern incarnation of the most ancient living civilisation, the death penalty is a barbaric anomaly. It is time the collective conscience of the community repudiated it.</p><p align="justify"><em>(Satyabrata Pal is a Member of the National Human Rights Commission. These views are personal) </em></p>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<br><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/why-capital-punishment-must-go/article5193670.ece?homepage=true" class="re" target="_blank">The Hindu, 3 October, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/why-capital-punishment-must-go/article5193670.ece?homepage=true</a><div class="clear"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 18px;">
<p class="post-tag">Tagged with:
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=capital punishment"
title="capital punishment">
capital punishment </a>
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Human Rights"
title="Human Rights">
Human Rights </a>
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Law and Justice"
title="Law and Justice">
Law and Justice </a>
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=crime"
title="crime">
crime </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<br><br>
<div class="widget-top">
<h4>Related Articles</h4>
<div class="stripe-line"></div>
</div>
<div class="widget-container">
<ul id="recentcomments">
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/india-s-trigger-happy-internet-shutdowns-hurt-its-poor-and-marginalised-anirudh-s-k.html"
title="India’s Trigger-Happy Internet Shutdowns Hurt its Poor and Marginalised - Anirudh S.K.">
India’s Trigger-Happy Internet Shutdowns Hurt its Poor and Marginalised - Anirudh S.K. </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/in-the-age-of-false-news-a-journalist-a-murder-and-the-pursuit-of-an-unfinished-investigation-in-india-forbidden-stories.html"
title="In the Age of False News: a Murdered Journalist and an Unfinished Investigation in India - Forbidden Stories">
In the Age of False News: a Murdered Journalist and an Unfinished Investigation in India - Forbidden Stories </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/manual-scavenging-killed-19-people-in-mumbai-in-five-years-bmc-records-zero-deaths-aarefa-johari.html"
title="Manual scavenging killed 19 people in Mumbai in five years, BMC records zero deaths - Aarefa Johari">
Manual scavenging killed 19 people in Mumbai in five years, BMC records zero deaths - Aarefa Johari </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/human-rights-defenders-should-conform-to-law-of-land-says-solicitor-general-tushar-mehta-kallol-bhattacherjee.html"
title="Human rights defenders should conform to law of land, says Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta -Kallol Bhattacherjee">
Human rights defenders should conform to law of land, says Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta -Kallol Bhattacherjee </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/jailed-or-punished-with-or-without-trial-how-the-state-misuses-the-law-against-india-s-inconvenient-citizens-mani-chander.html"
title="Jailed Or Punished, With Or Without Trial: How The State Misuses The Law Against India’s Inconvenient Citizens -Mani Chander">
Jailed Or Punished, With Or Without Trial: How The State Misuses The Law Against India’s Inconvenient Citizens -Mani Chander </a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="comment-respond" id="respond">
<a name="commentbox"> </a>
<h3 class="comment-reply-title" id="reply-title">Write Comments</h3>
<form method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" role="form" action="/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html"><div style="display:none;"><input type="hidden" name="_method" value="POST"/></div> <form class="comment-form" id="commentform" method="post" action="#commentbox" onSubmit="return validate()"
name="cmtform">
<input type="hidden" name="cmttype" value="articlecmt"/>
<input type="hidden" name="article_id" value="22729"/>
<p class="comment-notes">Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked <span
class="required">*</span></p>
<p class="comment-form-author">
<label for="commenterName">Name</label>
<span class="required">*</span>
<input type="text" aria-required="true" size="30"
value=""
name="commenterName" id="commenterName" required="true">
</p>
<p class="comment-form-email">
<label for="commenterEmail">Email</label> <span class="required">*</span>
<input aria-required="true" size="30" name="commenterEmail" id="commenterEmail" type="email"
value=""
required="true">
</p>
<p class="comment-form-contact">
<label for="commenterPh">Contact No.</label>
<input type="text" size="30"
value=""
name="commenterPh" id="commenterPh">
</p>
<p class="comment-form-comment">
<label for="comment">Comment</label>
<textarea aria-required="true" required="true" rows="8" cols="45" name="comment"
id="comment"></textarea>
</p>
<p class="comment-form-comment">
<label for="comment">Type the characters you see in the image below <span class="required">*</span><br><img
class="captchaImg"
src="https://im4change.in/securimage_show_art.php?tk=1785245925" alt="captcha"/>
</label>
</p>
<input type="text" name="vrcode" required="true"/>
<p class="form-submit" style="width: 200px;">
<input type="submit" value="Post Comment" id="submit" name="submit">
</p></form>
</div>
<style>
.ui-widget-content {
height: auto !important;
}
</style>
<div id="share-modal"></div>
<style>
.middleContent a{
background-color: rgba(108,172,228,.2);
}
.middleContent a:hover{
background-color: #418fde;
border-color: #418fde;
color: #000;
}
</style>
<script>
function shareArticle(article_id) {
var options = {
modal: true,
height: 'auto',
width: 600 + 'px'
};
$('#share-modal').html("");
$('#share-modal').load('https://im4change.in/share_article?article_id=' + article_id).dialog(options).dialog('open');
}
function postShare() {
var param = 'article_id=' + $("#article_id").val();
param = param + '&y_name=' + $("#y_name").val();
param = param + '&y_email=' + $("#y_email").val();
param = param + '&f_name=' + $("#f_name").val();
param = param + '&f_email=' + $("#f_email").val();
param = param + '&y_msg=' + $("#y_msg").val();
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: 'https://im4change.in/post_share_article',
data: param,
success: function (response) {
$('#share-modal').html("Thank You, Your message posted to ");
}
});
return false;
}
</script> </div>
</div>
<!-- Right Side Section Start -->
<!-- MAP Section START -->
<aside class="sidebar indexMarg">
<div class="ad-cell">
<a href="https://im4change.in/statemap.php" title="">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/map_new_version.png?1582080666" alt="India State Map" class="indiamap" width="232" height="252"/> </a>
<div class="rightmapbox">
<div id="sideOne" class="docltitle"><a href="https://im4change.in/state-report/india/36" target="_blank">DOCUMENTS/
REPORTS</a></div>
<div id="sideTwo" class="statetitle"><a href="https://im4change.in/states.php"target="_blank">STATE DATA/
HDRs.</a></div>
</div>
<div class="widget widgePadTop"></div>
</div>
</aside>
<!-- MAP Section END -->
<aside class="sidebar sidePadbottom">
<div class="rightsmlbox1" >
<a href="https://im4change.in/knowledge_gateway" target="_blank" style="color: #035588;
font-size: 17px;">
KNOWLEDGE GATEWAY
</a>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title">
<a href="https://im4change.in/newsletter" target="_blank">
NEWSLETTER
</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1" style="height: 325px;">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title">
Interview with Prof. Ravi Srivastava
</p>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/interview-with-prof-ravi-srivastava-on-current-economic-crisis">
<img width="250" height="200" src="/images/interview_video_home.jpg" alt="Interview with Prof. Ravi Srivastava"/>
</a>
<!--
<iframe width="250" height="200" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MmaTlntk-wc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>-->
</p>
<a href="https://im4change.in/videogallery" class="more-link CatArchalAnch1" target="_blank">
More videos
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<!--div id="sstory" class="rightboxicons"></div--->
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a href="https://im4change.in/list-success-stories" target="_blank">Success Stories</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a
href="https://im4change.in/interviews" target="_blank">Interviews</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a href="https://www.commoncause.in/page.php?id=10" >Donate</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a
href="https://im4change.in/marquee"
class="isf_link more-link" title="India Focus?" style="border: 4px solid #fdd922;width: 90%;background-color: #fdd922;text-align: center;color: #000000;font-size:18px" target="_blank">India Focus</a></p> </div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1" style="height: 104px !important;">
<a href="https://im4change.in/quarterly_reports.php" target="_blank">
Quarterly Reports on Effect of Economic Slowdown on Employment in India (2008 - 2015)
</a>
</div>
<!-- <div class="rightsmlbox1">
<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.im4.im4change" target="_blank">
</a></div> -->
<!-- <section class="cat-box recent-box secMarg">
<h2 class="cat-box-title">Most Visited</h2>
</section> -->
<!-- accordion Starts here -->
<!-- <div id="accordion" class="accordMarg">
</div> -->
<!-- accordion ends here -->
<!-- Widget Tag Cloud Starts here -->
<div id="tag_cloud-2" class="widget widget_tag_cloud">
<section class="cat-box recent-box secMarg">
<h2 class="cat-box-title">MOST VISITED TAGS</h2>
</section>
<div class="widget-top wiPdTp">
<div class="stripe-line"></div>
</div>
<div class="widget-container">
<div class="tagcloud">
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Agriculture"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Agriculture</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Food Security"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Food Security</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Law and Justice"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Law and Justice</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Health"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Health</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Right to Food"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Right to Food</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Corruption"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Corruption</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=farming"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">farming</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Environment"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Environment</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Right to Information"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Right to Information</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=NREGS"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">NREGS</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Human Rights"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Human Rights</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Governance"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Governance</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PDS"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PDS</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=COVID-19"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">COVID-19</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Land Acquisition"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Land Acquisition</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=mgnrega"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">mgnrega</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Farmers"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Farmers</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=transparency"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">transparency</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Gender"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Gender</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Poverty"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Poverty</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Farm Laws" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Farm Laws
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Citizenship Amendment Act" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Citizenship Amendment Act
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=CAA NPR NRIC" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">CAA NPR NRIC
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Job Losses" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Job Losses
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Migrant Workers" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Migrant Workers
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Unemployment" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Unemployment
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PMGKAY" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PMGKAY
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PM-KISAN" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PM-KISAN
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PM-CARES" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PM-CARES
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=LFPR" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">LFPR
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Widget Tag Cloud Ends here -->
</aside>
<!-- Right Side Section End -->
</div>
<section class="cat-box cats-review-box footerSec">
<h2 class="cat-box-title vSec CatArcha">Video
Archives</h2>
<h2 class="cat-box-title CatArchaTitle">Archives</h2>
<div class="cat-box-content">
<div class="reviews-cat">
<div class="CatArchaDiv1">
<div class="CatArchaDiv2">
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/moving-upstream-luni-fellowship.html" target="_blank">
Moving Upstream: Luni – Fellowship </a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/135-million-indians-exited-multidimensional-poverty-as-per-government-figures-is-that-the-same-as-poverty-reduction.html" target="_blank">
135 Million Indians Exited “Multidimensional" Poverty as per Government... </a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/explainer-why-are-tomato-prices-on-fire.html" target="_blank">
Explainer: Why are Tomato Prices on Fire? </a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/nsso-survey-only-39-1-of-all-households-have-drinking-water-within-dwelling-46-7-of-rural-households-use-firewood-for-cooking.html" target="_blank">
NSSO Survey: Only 39.1% of all Households have Drinking... </a>
</li>
<li class="CatArchalLi1">
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57"
class="more-link CatArchalAnch1" target="_blank">
More...
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/I51LYnP8BOk/1.jpg"
alt=" Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Short-Video-on-im4change-Hindi-website-Inclusive-Media-for-Change" target="_blank">
Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/kNqha-SwfIY/1.jpg"
alt=" "Session 1: Scope of IDEA and AgriStack" in Exploring...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Session-1- Scope-of-IDEA-and-AgriStack-in-Exploring-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-29-April-2022" target="_blank">
"Session 1: Scope of IDEA and AgriStack" in Exploring... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/6kIVjlgZItk/1.jpg"
alt=" "Session 2: Farmer Centric Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Session-2-Farmer-Centric-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-in-Exploring-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-29-April-2022" target="_blank">
"Session 2: Farmer Centric Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/2BeHTu0y7xc/1.jpg"
alt=" "Session 3: Future of Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Session-3-Future-of-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-in-Exploring-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-29-April-2022" target="_blank">
"Session 3: Future of Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="divWidth">
<ul class="divWidthMarg">
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Public-Spending-on-Agriculture-in-India-Source-Foundation-for-Agrarian-Studies"
title="Public Spending on Agriculture in India (Source: Foundation for Agrarian Studies)" target="_blank">
Public Spending on Agriculture in India (Source: Foundation for...</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Agrarian-Change-Seminar-Protests-against-the-New-Farm-Laws-in-India-by-Prof-Vikas-Rawal-JNU-Source-Journal-Of-Agrarian-Change"
title="Agrarian Change Seminar: 'Protests against the New Farm Laws in India' by Prof. Vikas Rawal, JNU (Source: Journal Of Agrarian Change) " target="_blank">
Agrarian Change Seminar: 'Protests against the New Farm Laws...</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Webinar-Ramrao-The-Story-of-India-Farm-Crisis-Source-Azim-Premji-University"
title="Webinar: Ramrao - The Story of India's Farm Crisis (Source: Azim Premji University)" target="_blank">
Webinar: Ramrao - The Story of India's Farm Crisis...</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/water-and-agricultural-transformation-in-India"
title="Water and Agricultural Transformation in India: A Symbiotic Relationship (Source: IGIDR)" target="_blank">
Water and Agricultural Transformation in India: A Symbiotic Relationship...</a>
</li>
<li class="CatArchalLi1">
<a href="https://im4change.in/videogallery"
class="more-link CatArchalAnch1" target="_blank">
More...
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section> </div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<!-- Footer option Starts here -->
<div class="footer-bottom fade-in animated4">
<div class="container">
<div class="social-icons icon_flat">
<p class="SocialMargTop"> Website Developed by <a target="_blank" title="Web Development"
class="wot right"
href="http://www.ravinderkhurana.com/" rel="nofollow">
RAVINDErkHURANA.com</a></p>
</div>
<div class="alignleft">
<a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/objectives-8.html"
class="link"
title="Objectives">Objectives</a> | <a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/about-us-9.html"
class="link" title="About Us">About Us</a> | <a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/media-workshops.php"
class="ucwords">Workshops</a> | <a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/disclaimer/disclaimer-149.html"
title="Disclaimer">Disclaimer</a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Footer option ends here -->
</div>
<div id="connect">
<a target="_blank"
href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html"
title="Share on Facebook">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/Facebook.png?1582080640" alt="share on Facebook" class="ImgBorder"/>
</a><br/>
<a target="_blank"
href="http://twitter.com/share?text=Im4change&url=https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html"
title="Share on Twitter">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/twitter.png?1582080632" alt="Twitter" class="ImgBorder"/> </a>
<br/>
<a href="/feeds" title="RSS Feed" target="_blank">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/rss.png?1582080632" alt="RSS" class="ImgBorder"/>
</a>
<br/>
<a class="feedback-link" id="feedbackFormLink" href="#">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/feedback.png?1582080630" alt="Feedback" class="ImgBorder"/>
</a> <br/>
<a href="javascript:function iprl5(){var d=document,z=d.createElement('scr'+'ipt'),b=d.body,l=d.location;try{if(!b)throw(0);d.title='(Saving...) '+d.title;z.setAttribute('src',l.protocol+'//www.instapaper.com/j/WKrH3R7ORD5p?u='+encodeURIComponent(l.href)+'&t='+(new Date().getTime()));b.appendChild(z);}catch(e){alert('Please wait until the page has loaded.');}}iprl5();void(0)"
class="bookmarklet" onclick="return explain_bookmarklet();">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/read-it-later.png?1582080632" alt="Read Later" class="ImgBorder"/> </a>
</div>
<!-- Feedback form Starts here -->
<div id="feedbackForm" class="overlay_form" class="ImgBorder">
<h2>Contact Form</h2>
<div id="contactform1">
<div id="formleft">
<form id="submitform" action="/contactus.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="submitform" value="submitform"/>
<input type="hidden" name="salt_key" value="a0e0f2c6a0644a70e57ad2c96829709a"/>
<input type="hidden" name="ref" value="feedback"/>
<fieldset>
<label>Name :</label>
<input type="text" name="name" class="tbox" required/>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<label>Email :</label>
<input type="text" name="email" class="tbox" required/>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<label>Message :</label>
<textarea rows="5" cols="20" name="message" required></textarea>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
Please enter security code
<div class="clear"></div>
<input type="text" name="vrcode" class="tbox"/>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<input type="submit" class="button" value="Submit"/>
<a href="#" id="closefeedbakcformLink">Close</a>
</fieldset>
</form>
</div>
<div class="clearfix"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="donate_popup" class="modal" style="max-width: 800px;">
<table width="100%" border="1">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<b>Support im4change</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="25%" valign="middle">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo2.jpg?1582080632" alt="" width="100%"/> </td>
<td style="padding-left:10px;padding-top:10px;">
<form action="https://im4change.in/donate" method="get">
<table width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
<tr>
<td width="33%" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
10
</td>
<td width="33%" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
100
</td>
<td width="33%" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
1000
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
50
</td>
<td style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
500
</td>
<td style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
<input type="text" name="price" placeholder="?" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="right">
<input type="button" name="Pay" value="Pay"
style="width: 200px;background-color: rgb(205, 35, 36);color: #ffffff;"/>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div><script type='text/javascript'>
/* <![CDATA[ */
var tievar = {'go_to': 'Go to...'};
/* ]]> */
</script>
<script src="/js/tie-scripts.js?1575549704"></script><script src="/js/bootstrap.js?1575549704"></script><script src="/js/jquery.modal.min.js?1578284310"></script><script>
$(document).ready(function() {
// tell the autocomplete function to get its data from our php script
$('#s').autocomplete({
source: "/autocomplete"
});
});
</script>
<script src="/vj-main-sw-register.js" async></script>
<script>function init(){var imgDefer=document.getElementsByTagName('img');for(var i=0;i<imgDefer.length;i++){if(imgDefer[i].getAttribute('data-src')){imgDefer[i].setAttribute('src',imgDefer[i].getAttribute('data-src'))}}}
window.onload=init;</script>
</body>
</html>'
}
$maxBufferLength = (int) 8192
$file = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php'
$line = (int) 853
$message = 'Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853'
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {
'status' => (int) 200,
'contentType' => 'text/html',
'headers' => [
'Content-Type' => [
[maximum depth reached]
]
],
'file' => null,
'fileRange' => [],
'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
'cacheDirectives' => [],
'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html>
<!--[if lt IE 7 ]>
<html class="ie ie6" lang='en'> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 7 ]>
<html class="ie ie7" lang='en'> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 8 ]>
<html class="ie ie8" lang='en'> <![endif]-->
<!--[if (gte IE 9)|!(IE)]><!-->
<html lang='en'>
<!--<![endif]-->
<head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal </title>
<meta name="description" content="
-The Hindu
When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial
The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on..."/>
<meta name="keywords" content="capital punishment,Human Rights,Law and Justice,crime"/>
<meta name="news_keywords" content="capital punishment,Human Rights,Law and Justice,crime">
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="ROR" href="/ror.xml"/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="/feeds/"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/bootstrap.min.css?1697864993"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style.css?v=1.1.2"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style-inner.css?1577045210"/> <link rel="stylesheet" id="Oswald-css"
href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Oswald%3Aregular%2C700&ver=3.8.1" type="text/css"
media="all">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/jquery.modal.min.css?1578285302"/> <script src="/js/jquery-1.10.2.js?1575549704"></script> <script src="/js/jquery-migrate.min.js?1575549704"></script> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" title="Favicon">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/jquery-ui.css?1580720609"/> <script src="/js/jquery-ui.js?1575549704"></script> <link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/custom.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/jquery.modal.min.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/jquery-ui.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/li-scroller.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<!-- <link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/style.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous"> -->
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/style-inner.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel='dns-prefetch' href="//im4change.org/css/custom.css" crossorigin >
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/bootstrap.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery.li-scroller.1.0.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery.modal.min.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery.ui.totop.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery-1.10.2.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery-migrate.min.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery-ui.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/setting.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/tie-scripts.js">
<!--[if IE]>
<script type="text/javascript">jQuery(document).ready(function () {
jQuery(".menu-item").has("ul").children("a").attr("aria-haspopup", "true");
});</script>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script src="/js/html5.js"></script>
<script src="/js/selectivizr-min.js"></script>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 8]>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="/css/ie8.css"/>
<![endif]-->
<meta property="og:title" content="LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html" />
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="og:description" content="
-The Hindu
When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial
The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on..." />
<meta property="og:image" content="" />
<meta property="fb:app_id" content="0" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple1.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple2.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple3.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple4.png">
<style>
.gsc-results-wrapper-overlay{
top: 38% !important;
height: 50% !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2{
border-color: #035588 !important;
background-color: #035588 !important;
}
.gsib_a{
height: 30px !important;
padding: 2px 8px 1px 6px !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2{
height: 41px !important;
}
input.gsc-input{
background: none !important;
}
@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {
.gsc-results-wrapper-overlay{
top: 11% !important;
width: 87% !important;
left: 9% !important;
height: 43% !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2{
padding: 10px 10px !important;
}
.gsc-input-box{
height: 28px !important;
}
/* .gsib_a {
padding: 0px 9px 4px 9px !important;
}*/
}
@media only screen and (min-width: 1200px) and (max-width: 1920px) {
table.gsc-search-box{
width: 15% !important;
float: right !important;
margin-top: -118px !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2 {
padding: 6px !important;
}
}
</style>
<script>
$(function () {
$("#accordion").accordion({
event: "click hoverintent"
});
});
/*
* hoverIntent | Copyright 2011 Brian Cherne
* http://cherne.net/brian/resources/jquery.hoverIntent.html
* modified by the jQuery UI team
*/
$.event.special.hoverintent = {
setup: function () {
$(this).bind("mouseover", jQuery.event.special.hoverintent.handler);
},
teardown: function () {
$(this).unbind("mouseover", jQuery.event.special.hoverintent.handler);
},
handler: function (event) {
var currentX, currentY, timeout,
args = arguments,
target = $(event.target),
previousX = event.pageX,
previousY = event.pageY;
function track(event) {
currentX = event.pageX;
currentY = event.pageY;
}
;
function clear() {
target
.unbind("mousemove", track)
.unbind("mouseout", clear);
clearTimeout(timeout);
}
function handler() {
var prop,
orig = event;
if ((Math.abs(previousX - currentX) +
Math.abs(previousY - currentY)) < 7) {
clear();
event = $.Event("hoverintent");
for (prop in orig) {
if (!(prop in event)) {
event[prop] = orig[prop];
}
}
// Prevent accessing the original event since the new event
// is fired asynchronously and the old event is no longer
// usable (#6028)
delete event.originalEvent;
target.trigger(event);
} else {
previousX = currentX;
previousY = currentY;
timeout = setTimeout(handler, 100);
}
}
timeout = setTimeout(handler, 100);
target.bind({
mousemove: track,
mouseout: clear
});
}
};
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-472075-3']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function () {
var ga = document.createElement('script');
ga.type = 'text/javascript';
ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/custom.css?v=1.16"/> <script src="/js/jquery.ui.totop.js?1575549704"></script> <script src="/js/setting.js?1575549704"></script> <link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.json">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#616163" />
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="im4change">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/icons/logo-192x192.png">
</head>
<body id="top" class="home inner blog">
<div class="background-cover"></div>
<div class="wrapper animated">
<header id="theme-header" class="header_inner" style="position: relative;">
<div class="logo inner_logo" style="left:20px !important">
<a title="Home" href="https://im4change.in/">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo2.jpg?1582080632" class="logo_image" alt="im4change"/> </a>
</div>
<div class="langhindi" style="color: #000;display:none;"
href="https://im4change.in/">
<a class="more-link" href="https://im4change.in/">Home</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/hindi/" class="langbutton ">हिन्दी</a>
</div>
<nav class="fade-in animated2" id="main-nav">
<div class="container">
<div class="main-menu">
<ul class="menu" id="menu-main">
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children"
style="left: -40px;"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/">Home</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item mega-menu menu-item-type-taxonomy mega-menu menu-item-object-category mega-menu menu-item-has-children parent-list"
style=" margin-left: -40px;"><a href="#">KNOWLEDGE GATEWAY <span class="sub-indicator"></span>
</a>
<div class="mega-menu-block background_menu" style="padding-top:25px;">
<div class="container">
<div class="mega-menu-content">
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Farm Crisis</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/farmers039-suicides-14.html"
class="left postionrel">Farm Suicides </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/unemployment-30.html"
class="left postionrel">Unemployment </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/rural-distress-70.html"
class="left postionrel">Rural distress </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/migration-34.html"
class="left postionrel">Migration </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/key-facts-72.html"
class="left postionrel">Key Facts </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/debt-trap-15.html"
class="left postionrel">Debt Trap </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Empowerment</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/union-budget-73.html"
class="left postionrel">Union Budget And Other Economic Policies </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/forest-and-tribal-rights-61.html"
class="left postionrel">Forest and Tribal Rights </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-education-60.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Education </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-food-59.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Food </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/displacement-3279.html"
class="left postionrel">Displacement </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-work-mg-nrega-39.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Work (MG-NREGA) </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/gender-3280.html"
class="left postionrel">GENDER </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-information-58.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Information </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/social-audit-48.html"
class="left postionrel">Social Audit </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Hunger / HDI</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/poverty-and-inequality-20499.html"
class="left postionrel">Poverty and inequality </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/malnutrition-41.html"
class="left postionrel">Malnutrition </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/public-health-51.html"
class="left postionrel">Public Health </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/education-50.html"
class="left postionrel">Education </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/hunger-overview-40.html"
class="left postionrel">Hunger Overview </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/hdi-overview-45.html"
class="left postionrel">HDI Overview </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/pds-ration-food-security-42.html"
class="left postionrel">PDS/ Ration/ Food Security </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/sdgs-113.html"
class="left postionrel">SDGs </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/mid-day-meal-scheme-mdms-53.html"
class="left postionrel">Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Environment</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/environment/time-bomb-ticking-52.html"
class="left postionrel">Time Bomb Ticking </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/environment/water-and-sanitation-55.html"
class="left postionrel">Water and Sanitation </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/environment/impact-on-agriculture-54.html"
class="left postionrel">Impact on Agriculture </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Law & Justice</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/social-justice-20500.html"
class="left postionrel">Social Justice </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/access-to-justice-47.html"
class="left postionrel">Access to Justice </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/human-rights-56.html"
class="left postionrel">Human Rights </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/corruption-35.html"
class="left postionrel">Corruption </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/general-insecurity-46.html"
class="left postionrel">General Insecurity </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/disaster-relief-49.html"
class="left postionrel">Disaster & Relief </a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page "><a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/nceus_reports.php">NCEUS reports</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children parent-list ">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/about-us-9.html">About Us <span
class="sub-indicator"></span></a>
<ul class="sub-menu aboutmenu">
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/objectives-8.html">Objectives</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/contactus.php">Contact
Us</a></li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/about-us-9.html">About
Us</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children ">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/fellowships.php" title="Fellowships">Fellowships</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children "><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/media-workshops.php">Workshops</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children "><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/research.php">Research</a></li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children "><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/links-64">Partners</a></li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children"
id="menu-item-539"><a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hindi/"
class="langbutton langlinkfont17">हिन्दी</a></li>
</ul>
</div> </div>
<!-- <div style="float: right;">
<script async src="https://cse.google.com/cse.js?cx=18b4f2e0f11bed3dd"></script>
<div class="gcse-search"></div>
</div> -->
<div class="search-block" style=" margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 7px;">
<form method="get" id="searchform" name="searchform"
action="https://im4change.in/search"
onsubmit="return searchvalidate();">
<button class="search-button" type="submit" value="Search"></button>
<input type="text" id="s" name="qryStr" value=""
onfocus="if (this.value == 'Search...') {this.value = '';}"
onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Search...';}">
</form>
</div>
</nav>
</header>
<div class="container">
<div id="main-content" class=" main1 container fade-in animated3 sidebar-narrow-left">
<div class="content-wrap">
<div class="content" style="width: 900px;min-height: 500px;">
<section class="cat-box recent-box innerCatRecent">
<h1 class="cat-box-title">Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal</h1>
<a href="JavaScript:void(0);" onclick="return shareArticle(22729);">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/email.png?1582080630" border="0" width="24" align="right" alt="Share this article"/> </a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883/print"
rel="nofollow">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/icon-print.png?1582080630" border="0" width="24" align="right" alt="Share this article"/>
</a>
</section>
<section class="recent-box innerCatRecent">
<small class="pb-1"><span class="dateIcn">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/published.svg?1582080666" alt="published"/>
Published on</span><span class="text-date"> Oct 3, 2013</span>
<span
class="dateIcn">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/modified.svg?1582080666" alt="modified"/> Modified on </span><span class="text-date"> Oct 3, 2013</span>
</small>
</section>
<div class="clear"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 10px;">
<div class="innerLineHeight">
<div class="middleContent innerInput latest-news-updates">
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<div>
<div align="justify">-The Hindu</div><p align="justify"><br /><em>When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial</em></p><p align="justify">The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on Supreme Court judgments, which stipulate that capital punishment will be imposed in "the rarest of rare" cases, where the community's "collective conscience is so shocked that it will expect the holders of the judicial power centre to inflict death penalty" because of the abhorrent nature of the crime, which would include "the manner of the commission of the murder," for instance, "if it was committed in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner," or where the victim was "subjected to inhuman acts of torture or cruelty in order to bring about his or her death."</p><p align="justify"><em>Dangerous</em></p><p align="justify">There are several dangers in a process in which a life is taken because that is what the community wants, as in the Roman amphitheatre, where the mob decided if the defeated gladiator should die. Apart from turning the judiciary into a khap panchayat, how does this august fraternity commune with the community, or divine that its conscience wants blood? In the 21st century, flooded as it is with 24-hour television and social media on tap, outrage can be manufactured, reality distorted. Even when, as after the Delhi crime, the revulsion was real and widespread, how does the judiciary determine that those who were shocked would only recover with the deaths of those who had shocked them? Diplomats, who must assess the mood of the country they are posted in, take it as given that the media only partially reflects it, since the strident few drown out the diffident majority. An Embassy spreads its tentacles wide, speaking to and gauging the mood of people in different sectors, levels and locations, to understand what they really want. No judge can do this. What a judge takes as the collective conscience of the community can only be the slant carried by the media. To base decisions on life and death on this is injudicious.</p><p align="justify">Secondly, what is the community whose conscience the judge must tap into and channel into a pronouncement of death? For a sessions judge, it will presumably be that of the local community. If that judgment is overturned on appeal, it can either mean that the judge had misread that conscience, or that the High Court felt that the conscience of the larger community of the State did not want blood. If the Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence, this would presumably mean that the national conscience was at one with the local, but that of the State concerned was out of step with both. Which is the segment of the community to whose conscience judges must defer? Logically, it should be the one most affected, which would imply that no sentence of death from a sessions court should be overturned. How does a judge in the State or Central capital determine that the local community had not been galvanised into bloodlust?</p><p align="justify">But what would happen, for instance, in the cases that should shortly come to trial for the murders in the recent communal violence in U.P.? The most appalling cruelty is committed during communal riots. One of the criteria invoked in the Delhi judgment to justify the death sentence, the barbaric and revolting nature of the murder, would apply. In these cases, however there would be no collective conscience to consult, since the community is split in two. Each half would demand the death sentence for the murderers from the other community, but mourn its own murderers as martyrs if they were hanged. In these cases, therefore, where one of the criteria laid down by the Supreme Court conflicts with the other, which will prevail?</p><p align="justify">Nor should we forget that, while the use of torture to bring about death is rare in crimes committed by individuals, it is routinely practised by the army and the paramilitary in States wracked by political violence. Unaccounted numbers of Kashmiris disappeared into the maws of Papa-II, the infamous torture chamber run by the paramilitary in Srinagar. Those bodies that were recovered bore marks of the most terrible torture. Very large numbers disappeared forever. To say that the collective conscience of the Kashmiri Muslim community is merely shocked would be an insult. It has lived with rage, pain and a searing sense of injustice for two decades; its tormenters have escaped with impunity, because the collective conscience of the rest of the country has not even been stirred.</p><p align="justify">Across our subcontinent, in Manipur, similar cases abound, including that of Thangjam Manorama, taken from her home in Imphal late at night by a unit of the Assam Rifles, led by two Majors, tortured with a knife, forced into her genitals in the presence of her family, tortured even more brutally later, raped and shot. Her body was not received by dignitaries, it was found lying in a ditch. There have been many other killings like this, but this one, like the gang rape case in Delhi, set off a storm, leading to a "naked protest" by Manipuri women in front of the paramilitary camp. If any crime matched both the criteria invoked in the Delhi judgment, the bestiality of the murder and the collective indignation it produced, this one did. However, the officers and men responsible are immune because the army's Court of Enquiry held they were all innocent.</p><p align="justify"><em>Justice not blind</em></p><p align="justify">These communities, and the tribals in the naxal belt, will argue bitterly that justice is not blind; it sees who you are and where you come from and, in its scales, the collective conscience of the community only registers when it has political weight. If you are a Kashmiri or a Manipuri, your shock is gossamer.</p><p align="justify">One of the crimes that the Supreme Court has laid down as likely to shock the collective conscience of the community is a "murder committed in the course of betrayal of the motherland." It appears murders committed in its ostensible defence do not shock. Patriotism is the last refuge of the serial torturer. If he walks free, though, why should others hang?</p><p align="justify">There is a further danger. Because public opinion is manipulated with modern technology, the outrage which the judiciary will interpret as an indignation that must be assuaged with blood can only be provoked by the technically adept, or those with the money to influence the media. The men sentenced to death in Delhi, and those hanged over the last year, were mostly from the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. Neither they nor their families had the financial or technical means to harness the media or the social media in their defence. There is, therefore, an inevitable class bias built into a process where a judge pronounces the verdict of death on the basis of a public outpouring of rage, which the accused have no means of contesting.</p><p align="justify">The brutality that brings their crimes into the ambit of the rarest of rare is bred into their lives. They have gone to bed hungry as children, suffered illnesses without medicine, defecated in the open, been savaged on the whims of adults, treated like dirt. Compassion has never touched them. Life has beaten sensitivity out of them. Men forced to live like brutes will kill like brutes. When these men, society's victims, find a victim, they take a lifetime's frustrations out on him or her. Their murders and rapes are unlikely to be refined. Their brutality might appal a court and nauseate the middle class, by whose standards they are judged, but it is a product of what the community has made of them. This is what should shock the collective conscience of the community.</p><p align="justify">Lastly, and most troublingly, if a man is to be hanged because the judge feels that the collective conscience is so shocked that it will expect him to inflict the death penalty, can a trial be fair, with the accused presumed to be innocent until he is proven guilty? If, before the trial starts, society has already made up its mind, in the judge's view, that it will only be satisfied with the death penalty, it has also determined who the guilty are. It is hard to believe that a judge can hear a case entirely on merits, and take popular sentiment into account only at the verdict. On the contrary, if it is now the law that a judge must impose the death penalty in cases where he has concluded that the community demands it, he would be shirking his duty if he were to absolve the men on trial, denying the community, whose servant he is, the satisfaction of a human sacrifice.</p><p align="justify">When the Supreme Court decreed that the death penalty should be imposed only in the rarest of rare cases, it tried, humanely and honourably, to prevent a rash of judicial killings, but the criteria it has laid down inherently lead to decisions that are, in every sense, fatally subjective. The road to the gallows might be paved with its good intentions, but on matters of life and death, the law cannot be so cruelly flawed.</p><p align="justify">Tarquin, Auden famously wrote, was ravished by his post-coital sadness. Is the "community" in India ever choked by a post-garroting remorse? Conscience is the uncomfortable reminder that we have done something wrong.</p><p align="justify">In a nation that aspires to be a modern democracy and claims to be a modern incarnation of the most ancient living civilisation, the death penalty is a barbaric anomaly. It is time the collective conscience of the community repudiated it.</p><p align="justify"><em>(Satyabrata Pal is a Member of the National Human Rights Commission. These views are personal) </em></p>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<br><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/why-capital-punishment-must-go/article5193670.ece?homepage=true" class="re" target="_blank">The Hindu, 3 October, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/why-capital-punishment-must-go/article5193670.ece?homepage=true</a><div class="clear"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 18px;">
<p class="post-tag">Tagged with:
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=capital punishment"
title="capital punishment">
capital punishment </a>
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Human Rights"
title="Human Rights">
Human Rights </a>
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Law and Justice"
title="Law and Justice">
Law and Justice </a>
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=crime"
title="crime">
crime </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<br><br>
<div class="widget-top">
<h4>Related Articles</h4>
<div class="stripe-line"></div>
</div>
<div class="widget-container">
<ul id="recentcomments">
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/india-s-trigger-happy-internet-shutdowns-hurt-its-poor-and-marginalised-anirudh-s-k.html"
title="India’s Trigger-Happy Internet Shutdowns Hurt its Poor and Marginalised - Anirudh S.K.">
India’s Trigger-Happy Internet Shutdowns Hurt its Poor and Marginalised - Anirudh S.K. </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/in-the-age-of-false-news-a-journalist-a-murder-and-the-pursuit-of-an-unfinished-investigation-in-india-forbidden-stories.html"
title="In the Age of False News: a Murdered Journalist and an Unfinished Investigation in India - Forbidden Stories">
In the Age of False News: a Murdered Journalist and an Unfinished Investigation in India - Forbidden Stories </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/manual-scavenging-killed-19-people-in-mumbai-in-five-years-bmc-records-zero-deaths-aarefa-johari.html"
title="Manual scavenging killed 19 people in Mumbai in five years, BMC records zero deaths - Aarefa Johari">
Manual scavenging killed 19 people in Mumbai in five years, BMC records zero deaths - Aarefa Johari </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/human-rights-defenders-should-conform-to-law-of-land-says-solicitor-general-tushar-mehta-kallol-bhattacherjee.html"
title="Human rights defenders should conform to law of land, says Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta -Kallol Bhattacherjee">
Human rights defenders should conform to law of land, says Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta -Kallol Bhattacherjee </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/jailed-or-punished-with-or-without-trial-how-the-state-misuses-the-law-against-india-s-inconvenient-citizens-mani-chander.html"
title="Jailed Or Punished, With Or Without Trial: How The State Misuses The Law Against India’s Inconvenient Citizens -Mani Chander">
Jailed Or Punished, With Or Without Trial: How The State Misuses The Law Against India’s Inconvenient Citizens -Mani Chander </a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="comment-respond" id="respond">
<a name="commentbox"> </a>
<h3 class="comment-reply-title" id="reply-title">Write Comments</h3>
<form method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" role="form" action="/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html"><div style="display:none;"><input type="hidden" name="_method" value="POST"/></div> <form class="comment-form" id="commentform" method="post" action="#commentbox" onSubmit="return validate()"
name="cmtform">
<input type="hidden" name="cmttype" value="articlecmt"/>
<input type="hidden" name="article_id" value="22729"/>
<p class="comment-notes">Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked <span
class="required">*</span></p>
<p class="comment-form-author">
<label for="commenterName">Name</label>
<span class="required">*</span>
<input type="text" aria-required="true" size="30"
value=""
name="commenterName" id="commenterName" required="true">
</p>
<p class="comment-form-email">
<label for="commenterEmail">Email</label> <span class="required">*</span>
<input aria-required="true" size="30" name="commenterEmail" id="commenterEmail" type="email"
value=""
required="true">
</p>
<p class="comment-form-contact">
<label for="commenterPh">Contact No.</label>
<input type="text" size="30"
value=""
name="commenterPh" id="commenterPh">
</p>
<p class="comment-form-comment">
<label for="comment">Comment</label>
<textarea aria-required="true" required="true" rows="8" cols="45" name="comment"
id="comment"></textarea>
</p>
<p class="comment-form-comment">
<label for="comment">Type the characters you see in the image below <span class="required">*</span><br><img
class="captchaImg"
src="https://im4change.in/securimage_show_art.php?tk=1785245925" alt="captcha"/>
</label>
</p>
<input type="text" name="vrcode" required="true"/>
<p class="form-submit" style="width: 200px;">
<input type="submit" value="Post Comment" id="submit" name="submit">
</p></form>
</div>
<style>
.ui-widget-content {
height: auto !important;
}
</style>
<div id="share-modal"></div>
<style>
.middleContent a{
background-color: rgba(108,172,228,.2);
}
.middleContent a:hover{
background-color: #418fde;
border-color: #418fde;
color: #000;
}
</style>
<script>
function shareArticle(article_id) {
var options = {
modal: true,
height: 'auto',
width: 600 + 'px'
};
$('#share-modal').html("");
$('#share-modal').load('https://im4change.in/share_article?article_id=' + article_id).dialog(options).dialog('open');
}
function postShare() {
var param = 'article_id=' + $("#article_id").val();
param = param + '&y_name=' + $("#y_name").val();
param = param + '&y_email=' + $("#y_email").val();
param = param + '&f_name=' + $("#f_name").val();
param = param + '&f_email=' + $("#f_email").val();
param = param + '&y_msg=' + $("#y_msg").val();
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: 'https://im4change.in/post_share_article',
data: param,
success: function (response) {
$('#share-modal').html("Thank You, Your message posted to ");
}
});
return false;
}
</script> </div>
</div>
<!-- Right Side Section Start -->
<!-- MAP Section START -->
<aside class="sidebar indexMarg">
<div class="ad-cell">
<a href="https://im4change.in/statemap.php" title="">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/map_new_version.png?1582080666" alt="India State Map" class="indiamap" width="232" height="252"/> </a>
<div class="rightmapbox">
<div id="sideOne" class="docltitle"><a href="https://im4change.in/state-report/india/36" target="_blank">DOCUMENTS/
REPORTS</a></div>
<div id="sideTwo" class="statetitle"><a href="https://im4change.in/states.php"target="_blank">STATE DATA/
HDRs.</a></div>
</div>
<div class="widget widgePadTop"></div>
</div>
</aside>
<!-- MAP Section END -->
<aside class="sidebar sidePadbottom">
<div class="rightsmlbox1" >
<a href="https://im4change.in/knowledge_gateway" target="_blank" style="color: #035588;
font-size: 17px;">
KNOWLEDGE GATEWAY
</a>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title">
<a href="https://im4change.in/newsletter" target="_blank">
NEWSLETTER
</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1" style="height: 325px;">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title">
Interview with Prof. Ravi Srivastava
</p>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/interview-with-prof-ravi-srivastava-on-current-economic-crisis">
<img width="250" height="200" src="/images/interview_video_home.jpg" alt="Interview with Prof. Ravi Srivastava"/>
</a>
<!--
<iframe width="250" height="200" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MmaTlntk-wc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>-->
</p>
<a href="https://im4change.in/videogallery" class="more-link CatArchalAnch1" target="_blank">
More videos
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<!--div id="sstory" class="rightboxicons"></div--->
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a href="https://im4change.in/list-success-stories" target="_blank">Success Stories</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a
href="https://im4change.in/interviews" target="_blank">Interviews</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a href="https://www.commoncause.in/page.php?id=10" >Donate</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a
href="https://im4change.in/marquee"
class="isf_link more-link" title="India Focus?" style="border: 4px solid #fdd922;width: 90%;background-color: #fdd922;text-align: center;color: #000000;font-size:18px" target="_blank">India Focus</a></p> </div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1" style="height: 104px !important;">
<a href="https://im4change.in/quarterly_reports.php" target="_blank">
Quarterly Reports on Effect of Economic Slowdown on Employment in India (2008 - 2015)
</a>
</div>
<!-- <div class="rightsmlbox1">
<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.im4.im4change" target="_blank">
</a></div> -->
<!-- <section class="cat-box recent-box secMarg">
<h2 class="cat-box-title">Most Visited</h2>
</section> -->
<!-- accordion Starts here -->
<!-- <div id="accordion" class="accordMarg">
</div> -->
<!-- accordion ends here -->
<!-- Widget Tag Cloud Starts here -->
<div id="tag_cloud-2" class="widget widget_tag_cloud">
<section class="cat-box recent-box secMarg">
<h2 class="cat-box-title">MOST VISITED TAGS</h2>
</section>
<div class="widget-top wiPdTp">
<div class="stripe-line"></div>
</div>
<div class="widget-container">
<div class="tagcloud">
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Agriculture"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Agriculture</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Food Security"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Food Security</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Law and Justice"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Law and Justice</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Health"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Health</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Right to Food"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Right to Food</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Corruption"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Corruption</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=farming"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">farming</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Environment"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Environment</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Right to Information"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Right to Information</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=NREGS"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">NREGS</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Human Rights"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Human Rights</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Governance"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Governance</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PDS"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PDS</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=COVID-19"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">COVID-19</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Land Acquisition"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Land Acquisition</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=mgnrega"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">mgnrega</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Farmers"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Farmers</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=transparency"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">transparency</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Gender"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Gender</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Poverty"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Poverty</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Farm Laws" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Farm Laws
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Citizenship Amendment Act" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Citizenship Amendment Act
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=CAA NPR NRIC" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">CAA NPR NRIC
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Job Losses" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Job Losses
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Migrant Workers" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Migrant Workers
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Unemployment" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Unemployment
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PMGKAY" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PMGKAY
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PM-KISAN" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PM-KISAN
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PM-CARES" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PM-CARES
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=LFPR" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">LFPR
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Widget Tag Cloud Ends here -->
</aside>
<!-- Right Side Section End -->
</div>
<section class="cat-box cats-review-box footerSec">
<h2 class="cat-box-title vSec CatArcha">Video
Archives</h2>
<h2 class="cat-box-title CatArchaTitle">Archives</h2>
<div class="cat-box-content">
<div class="reviews-cat">
<div class="CatArchaDiv1">
<div class="CatArchaDiv2">
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/moving-upstream-luni-fellowship.html" target="_blank">
Moving Upstream: Luni – Fellowship </a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/135-million-indians-exited-multidimensional-poverty-as-per-government-figures-is-that-the-same-as-poverty-reduction.html" target="_blank">
135 Million Indians Exited “Multidimensional" Poverty as per Government... </a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/explainer-why-are-tomato-prices-on-fire.html" target="_blank">
Explainer: Why are Tomato Prices on Fire? </a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/nsso-survey-only-39-1-of-all-households-have-drinking-water-within-dwelling-46-7-of-rural-households-use-firewood-for-cooking.html" target="_blank">
NSSO Survey: Only 39.1% of all Households have Drinking... </a>
</li>
<li class="CatArchalLi1">
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57"
class="more-link CatArchalAnch1" target="_blank">
More...
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/I51LYnP8BOk/1.jpg"
alt=" Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Short-Video-on-im4change-Hindi-website-Inclusive-Media-for-Change" target="_blank">
Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/kNqha-SwfIY/1.jpg"
alt=" "Session 1: Scope of IDEA and AgriStack" in Exploring...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Session-1- Scope-of-IDEA-and-AgriStack-in-Exploring-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-29-April-2022" target="_blank">
"Session 1: Scope of IDEA and AgriStack" in Exploring... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/6kIVjlgZItk/1.jpg"
alt=" "Session 2: Farmer Centric Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Session-2-Farmer-Centric-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-in-Exploring-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-29-April-2022" target="_blank">
"Session 2: Farmer Centric Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/2BeHTu0y7xc/1.jpg"
alt=" "Session 3: Future of Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Session-3-Future-of-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-in-Exploring-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-29-April-2022" target="_blank">
"Session 3: Future of Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="divWidth">
<ul class="divWidthMarg">
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Public-Spending-on-Agriculture-in-India-Source-Foundation-for-Agrarian-Studies"
title="Public Spending on Agriculture in India (Source: Foundation for Agrarian Studies)" target="_blank">
Public Spending on Agriculture in India (Source: Foundation for...</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Agrarian-Change-Seminar-Protests-against-the-New-Farm-Laws-in-India-by-Prof-Vikas-Rawal-JNU-Source-Journal-Of-Agrarian-Change"
title="Agrarian Change Seminar: 'Protests against the New Farm Laws in India' by Prof. Vikas Rawal, JNU (Source: Journal Of Agrarian Change) " target="_blank">
Agrarian Change Seminar: 'Protests against the New Farm Laws...</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Webinar-Ramrao-The-Story-of-India-Farm-Crisis-Source-Azim-Premji-University"
title="Webinar: Ramrao - The Story of India's Farm Crisis (Source: Azim Premji University)" target="_blank">
Webinar: Ramrao - The Story of India's Farm Crisis...</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/water-and-agricultural-transformation-in-India"
title="Water and Agricultural Transformation in India: A Symbiotic Relationship (Source: IGIDR)" target="_blank">
Water and Agricultural Transformation in India: A Symbiotic Relationship...</a>
</li>
<li class="CatArchalLi1">
<a href="https://im4change.in/videogallery"
class="more-link CatArchalAnch1" target="_blank">
More...
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section> </div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<!-- Footer option Starts here -->
<div class="footer-bottom fade-in animated4">
<div class="container">
<div class="social-icons icon_flat">
<p class="SocialMargTop"> Website Developed by <a target="_blank" title="Web Development"
class="wot right"
href="http://www.ravinderkhurana.com/" rel="nofollow">
RAVINDErkHURANA.com</a></p>
</div>
<div class="alignleft">
<a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/objectives-8.html"
class="link"
title="Objectives">Objectives</a> | <a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/about-us-9.html"
class="link" title="About Us">About Us</a> | <a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/media-workshops.php"
class="ucwords">Workshops</a> | <a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/disclaimer/disclaimer-149.html"
title="Disclaimer">Disclaimer</a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Footer option ends here -->
</div>
<div id="connect">
<a target="_blank"
href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html"
title="Share on Facebook">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/Facebook.png?1582080640" alt="share on Facebook" class="ImgBorder"/>
</a><br/>
<a target="_blank"
href="http://twitter.com/share?text=Im4change&url=https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html"
title="Share on Twitter">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/twitter.png?1582080632" alt="Twitter" class="ImgBorder"/> </a>
<br/>
<a href="/feeds" title="RSS Feed" target="_blank">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/rss.png?1582080632" alt="RSS" class="ImgBorder"/>
</a>
<br/>
<a class="feedback-link" id="feedbackFormLink" href="#">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/feedback.png?1582080630" alt="Feedback" class="ImgBorder"/>
</a> <br/>
<a href="javascript:function iprl5(){var d=document,z=d.createElement('scr'+'ipt'),b=d.body,l=d.location;try{if(!b)throw(0);d.title='(Saving...) '+d.title;z.setAttribute('src',l.protocol+'//www.instapaper.com/j/WKrH3R7ORD5p?u='+encodeURIComponent(l.href)+'&t='+(new Date().getTime()));b.appendChild(z);}catch(e){alert('Please wait until the page has loaded.');}}iprl5();void(0)"
class="bookmarklet" onclick="return explain_bookmarklet();">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/read-it-later.png?1582080632" alt="Read Later" class="ImgBorder"/> </a>
</div>
<!-- Feedback form Starts here -->
<div id="feedbackForm" class="overlay_form" class="ImgBorder">
<h2>Contact Form</h2>
<div id="contactform1">
<div id="formleft">
<form id="submitform" action="/contactus.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="submitform" value="submitform"/>
<input type="hidden" name="salt_key" value="a0e0f2c6a0644a70e57ad2c96829709a"/>
<input type="hidden" name="ref" value="feedback"/>
<fieldset>
<label>Name :</label>
<input type="text" name="name" class="tbox" required/>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<label>Email :</label>
<input type="text" name="email" class="tbox" required/>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<label>Message :</label>
<textarea rows="5" cols="20" name="message" required></textarea>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
Please enter security code
<div class="clear"></div>
<input type="text" name="vrcode" class="tbox"/>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<input type="submit" class="button" value="Submit"/>
<a href="#" id="closefeedbakcformLink">Close</a>
</fieldset>
</form>
</div>
<div class="clearfix"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="donate_popup" class="modal" style="max-width: 800px;">
<table width="100%" border="1">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<b>Support im4change</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="25%" valign="middle">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo2.jpg?1582080632" alt="" width="100%"/> </td>
<td style="padding-left:10px;padding-top:10px;">
<form action="https://im4change.in/donate" method="get">
<table width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
<tr>
<td width="33%" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
10
</td>
<td width="33%" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
100
</td>
<td width="33%" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
1000
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
50
</td>
<td style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
500
</td>
<td style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
<input type="text" name="price" placeholder="?" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="right">
<input type="button" name="Pay" value="Pay"
style="width: 200px;background-color: rgb(205, 35, 36);color: #ffffff;"/>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div><script type='text/javascript'>
/* <![CDATA[ */
var tievar = {'go_to': 'Go to...'};
/* ]]> */
</script>
<script src="/js/tie-scripts.js?1575549704"></script><script src="/js/bootstrap.js?1575549704"></script><script src="/js/jquery.modal.min.js?1578284310"></script><script>
$(document).ready(function() {
// tell the autocomplete function to get its data from our php script
$('#s').autocomplete({
source: "/autocomplete"
});
});
</script>
<script src="/vj-main-sw-register.js" async></script>
<script>function init(){var imgDefer=document.getElementsByTagName('img');for(var i=0;i<imgDefer.length;i++){if(imgDefer[i].getAttribute('data-src')){imgDefer[i].setAttribute('src',imgDefer[i].getAttribute('data-src'))}}}
window.onload=init;</script>
</body>
</html>'
}
$reasonPhrase = 'OK'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitStatusLine() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 54
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {
'status' => (int) 200,
'contentType' => 'text/html',
'headers' => [
'Content-Type' => [
[maximum depth reached]
]
],
'file' => null,
'fileRange' => [],
'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
'cacheDirectives' => [],
'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html>
<!--[if lt IE 7 ]>
<html class="ie ie6" lang='en'> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 7 ]>
<html class="ie ie7" lang='en'> <![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 8 ]>
<html class="ie ie8" lang='en'> <![endif]-->
<!--[if (gte IE 9)|!(IE)]><!-->
<html lang='en'>
<!--<![endif]-->
<head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal </title>
<meta name="description" content="
-The Hindu
When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial
The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on..."/>
<meta name="keywords" content="capital punishment,Human Rights,Law and Justice,crime"/>
<meta name="news_keywords" content="capital punishment,Human Rights,Law and Justice,crime">
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="ROR" href="/ror.xml"/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="/feeds/"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/bootstrap.min.css?1697864993"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style.css?v=1.1.2"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style-inner.css?1577045210"/> <link rel="stylesheet" id="Oswald-css"
href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Oswald%3Aregular%2C700&ver=3.8.1" type="text/css"
media="all">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/jquery.modal.min.css?1578285302"/> <script src="/js/jquery-1.10.2.js?1575549704"></script> <script src="/js/jquery-migrate.min.js?1575549704"></script> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" title="Favicon">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/jquery-ui.css?1580720609"/> <script src="/js/jquery-ui.js?1575549704"></script> <link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/custom.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/jquery.modal.min.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/jquery-ui.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/li-scroller.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<!-- <link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/style.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous"> -->
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://www.im4change.org/css/style-inner.css" onload="this.rel='stylesheet'" media="all" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel='dns-prefetch' href="//im4change.org/css/custom.css" crossorigin >
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/bootstrap.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery.li-scroller.1.0.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery.modal.min.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery.ui.totop.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery-1.10.2.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery-migrate.min.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/jquery-ui.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/setting.js">
<link rel="preload" as="script" href="https://www.im4change.org/js/tie-scripts.js">
<!--[if IE]>
<script type="text/javascript">jQuery(document).ready(function () {
jQuery(".menu-item").has("ul").children("a").attr("aria-haspopup", "true");
});</script>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script src="/js/html5.js"></script>
<script src="/js/selectivizr-min.js"></script>
<![endif]-->
<!--[if IE 8]>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="/css/ie8.css"/>
<![endif]-->
<meta property="og:title" content="LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal" />
<meta property="og:url" content="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html" />
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="og:description" content="
-The Hindu
When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial
The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on..." />
<meta property="og:image" content="" />
<meta property="fb:app_id" content="0" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple1.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple2.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple3.png">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="https://im4change.in/images/apple4.png">
<style>
.gsc-results-wrapper-overlay{
top: 38% !important;
height: 50% !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2{
border-color: #035588 !important;
background-color: #035588 !important;
}
.gsib_a{
height: 30px !important;
padding: 2px 8px 1px 6px !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2{
height: 41px !important;
}
input.gsc-input{
background: none !important;
}
@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {
.gsc-results-wrapper-overlay{
top: 11% !important;
width: 87% !important;
left: 9% !important;
height: 43% !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2{
padding: 10px 10px !important;
}
.gsc-input-box{
height: 28px !important;
}
/* .gsib_a {
padding: 0px 9px 4px 9px !important;
}*/
}
@media only screen and (min-width: 1200px) and (max-width: 1920px) {
table.gsc-search-box{
width: 15% !important;
float: right !important;
margin-top: -118px !important;
}
.gsc-search-button-v2 {
padding: 6px !important;
}
}
</style>
<script>
$(function () {
$("#accordion").accordion({
event: "click hoverintent"
});
});
/*
* hoverIntent | Copyright 2011 Brian Cherne
* http://cherne.net/brian/resources/jquery.hoverIntent.html
* modified by the jQuery UI team
*/
$.event.special.hoverintent = {
setup: function () {
$(this).bind("mouseover", jQuery.event.special.hoverintent.handler);
},
teardown: function () {
$(this).unbind("mouseover", jQuery.event.special.hoverintent.handler);
},
handler: function (event) {
var currentX, currentY, timeout,
args = arguments,
target = $(event.target),
previousX = event.pageX,
previousY = event.pageY;
function track(event) {
currentX = event.pageX;
currentY = event.pageY;
}
;
function clear() {
target
.unbind("mousemove", track)
.unbind("mouseout", clear);
clearTimeout(timeout);
}
function handler() {
var prop,
orig = event;
if ((Math.abs(previousX - currentX) +
Math.abs(previousY - currentY)) < 7) {
clear();
event = $.Event("hoverintent");
for (prop in orig) {
if (!(prop in event)) {
event[prop] = orig[prop];
}
}
// Prevent accessing the original event since the new event
// is fired asynchronously and the old event is no longer
// usable (#6028)
delete event.originalEvent;
target.trigger(event);
} else {
previousX = currentX;
previousY = currentY;
timeout = setTimeout(handler, 100);
}
}
timeout = setTimeout(handler, 100);
target.bind({
mousemove: track,
mouseout: clear
});
}
};
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-472075-3']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function () {
var ga = document.createElement('script');
ga.type = 'text/javascript';
ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/custom.css?v=1.16"/> <script src="/js/jquery.ui.totop.js?1575549704"></script> <script src="/js/setting.js?1575549704"></script> <link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.json">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#616163" />
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-title" content="im4change">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/icons/logo-192x192.png">
</head>
<body id="top" class="home inner blog">
<div class="background-cover"></div>
<div class="wrapper animated">
<header id="theme-header" class="header_inner" style="position: relative;">
<div class="logo inner_logo" style="left:20px !important">
<a title="Home" href="https://im4change.in/">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo2.jpg?1582080632" class="logo_image" alt="im4change"/> </a>
</div>
<div class="langhindi" style="color: #000;display:none;"
href="https://im4change.in/">
<a class="more-link" href="https://im4change.in/">Home</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/hindi/" class="langbutton ">हिन्दी</a>
</div>
<nav class="fade-in animated2" id="main-nav">
<div class="container">
<div class="main-menu">
<ul class="menu" id="menu-main">
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children"
style="left: -40px;"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/">Home</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item mega-menu menu-item-type-taxonomy mega-menu menu-item-object-category mega-menu menu-item-has-children parent-list"
style=" margin-left: -40px;"><a href="#">KNOWLEDGE GATEWAY <span class="sub-indicator"></span>
</a>
<div class="mega-menu-block background_menu" style="padding-top:25px;">
<div class="container">
<div class="mega-menu-content">
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Farm Crisis</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/farmers039-suicides-14.html"
class="left postionrel">Farm Suicides </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/unemployment-30.html"
class="left postionrel">Unemployment </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/rural-distress-70.html"
class="left postionrel">Rural distress </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/migration-34.html"
class="left postionrel">Migration </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/key-facts-72.html"
class="left postionrel">Key Facts </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/farm-crisis/debt-trap-15.html"
class="left postionrel">Debt Trap </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Empowerment</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/union-budget-73.html"
class="left postionrel">Union Budget And Other Economic Policies </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/forest-and-tribal-rights-61.html"
class="left postionrel">Forest and Tribal Rights </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-education-60.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Education </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-food-59.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Food </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/displacement-3279.html"
class="left postionrel">Displacement </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-work-mg-nrega-39.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Work (MG-NREGA) </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/gender-3280.html"
class="left postionrel">GENDER </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/right-to-information-58.html"
class="left postionrel">Right to Information </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/empowerment/social-audit-48.html"
class="left postionrel">Social Audit </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Hunger / HDI</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/poverty-and-inequality-20499.html"
class="left postionrel">Poverty and inequality </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/malnutrition-41.html"
class="left postionrel">Malnutrition </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/public-health-51.html"
class="left postionrel">Public Health </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/education-50.html"
class="left postionrel">Education </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/hunger-overview-40.html"
class="left postionrel">Hunger Overview </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/hdi-overview-45.html"
class="left postionrel">HDI Overview </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/pds-ration-food-security-42.html"
class="left postionrel">PDS/ Ration/ Food Security </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/sdgs-113.html"
class="left postionrel">SDGs </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hunger-hdi/mid-day-meal-scheme-mdms-53.html"
class="left postionrel">Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Environment</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/environment/time-bomb-ticking-52.html"
class="left postionrel">Time Bomb Ticking </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/environment/water-and-sanitation-55.html"
class="left postionrel">Water and Sanitation </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/environment/impact-on-agriculture-54.html"
class="left postionrel">Impact on Agriculture </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="mega-menu-item">
<h3><b>Law & Justice</b></h3>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/social-justice-20500.html"
class="left postionrel">Social Justice </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/access-to-justice-47.html"
class="left postionrel">Access to Justice </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/human-rights-56.html"
class="left postionrel">Human Rights </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/corruption-35.html"
class="left postionrel">Corruption </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/general-insecurity-46.html"
class="left postionrel">General Insecurity </a>
</p>
<p style="padding-left:5px;">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/law-justice/disaster-relief-49.html"
class="left postionrel">Disaster & Relief </a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page "><a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/nceus_reports.php">NCEUS reports</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children parent-list ">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/about-us-9.html">About Us <span
class="sub-indicator"></span></a>
<ul class="sub-menu aboutmenu">
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/objectives-8.html">Objectives</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/contactus.php">Contact
Us</a></li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page"><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/about-us-9.html">About
Us</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children ">
<a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/fellowships.php" title="Fellowships">Fellowships</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children "><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/media-workshops.php">Workshops</a>
</li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children "><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/research.php">Research</a></li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children "><a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/links-64">Partners</a></li>
<li class="menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-has-children"
id="menu-item-539"><a target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/hindi/"
class="langbutton langlinkfont17">हिन्दी</a></li>
</ul>
</div> </div>
<!-- <div style="float: right;">
<script async src="https://cse.google.com/cse.js?cx=18b4f2e0f11bed3dd"></script>
<div class="gcse-search"></div>
</div> -->
<div class="search-block" style=" margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 7px;">
<form method="get" id="searchform" name="searchform"
action="https://im4change.in/search"
onsubmit="return searchvalidate();">
<button class="search-button" type="submit" value="Search"></button>
<input type="text" id="s" name="qryStr" value=""
onfocus="if (this.value == 'Search...') {this.value = '';}"
onblur="if (this.value == '') {this.value = 'Search...';}">
</form>
</div>
</nav>
</header>
<div class="container">
<div id="main-content" class=" main1 container fade-in animated3 sidebar-narrow-left">
<div class="content-wrap">
<div class="content" style="width: 900px;min-height: 500px;">
<section class="cat-box recent-box innerCatRecent">
<h1 class="cat-box-title">Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal</h1>
<a href="JavaScript:void(0);" onclick="return shareArticle(22729);">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/email.png?1582080630" border="0" width="24" align="right" alt="Share this article"/> </a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883/print"
rel="nofollow">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/icon-print.png?1582080630" border="0" width="24" align="right" alt="Share this article"/>
</a>
</section>
<section class="recent-box innerCatRecent">
<small class="pb-1"><span class="dateIcn">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/published.svg?1582080666" alt="published"/>
Published on</span><span class="text-date"> Oct 3, 2013</span>
<span
class="dateIcn">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/modified.svg?1582080666" alt="modified"/> Modified on </span><span class="text-date"> Oct 3, 2013</span>
</small>
</section>
<div class="clear"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 10px;">
<div class="innerLineHeight">
<div class="middleContent innerInput latest-news-updates">
<table>
<tr>
<td>
<div>
<div align="justify">-The Hindu</div><p align="justify"><br /><em>When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial</em></p><p align="justify">The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on Supreme Court judgments, which stipulate that capital punishment will be imposed in "the rarest of rare" cases, where the community's "collective conscience is so shocked that it will expect the holders of the judicial power centre to inflict death penalty" because of the abhorrent nature of the crime, which would include "the manner of the commission of the murder," for instance, "if it was committed in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner," or where the victim was "subjected to inhuman acts of torture or cruelty in order to bring about his or her death."</p><p align="justify"><em>Dangerous</em></p><p align="justify">There are several dangers in a process in which a life is taken because that is what the community wants, as in the Roman amphitheatre, where the mob decided if the defeated gladiator should die. Apart from turning the judiciary into a khap panchayat, how does this august fraternity commune with the community, or divine that its conscience wants blood? In the 21st century, flooded as it is with 24-hour television and social media on tap, outrage can be manufactured, reality distorted. Even when, as after the Delhi crime, the revulsion was real and widespread, how does the judiciary determine that those who were shocked would only recover with the deaths of those who had shocked them? Diplomats, who must assess the mood of the country they are posted in, take it as given that the media only partially reflects it, since the strident few drown out the diffident majority. An Embassy spreads its tentacles wide, speaking to and gauging the mood of people in different sectors, levels and locations, to understand what they really want. No judge can do this. What a judge takes as the collective conscience of the community can only be the slant carried by the media. To base decisions on life and death on this is injudicious.</p><p align="justify">Secondly, what is the community whose conscience the judge must tap into and channel into a pronouncement of death? For a sessions judge, it will presumably be that of the local community. If that judgment is overturned on appeal, it can either mean that the judge had misread that conscience, or that the High Court felt that the conscience of the larger community of the State did not want blood. If the Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence, this would presumably mean that the national conscience was at one with the local, but that of the State concerned was out of step with both. Which is the segment of the community to whose conscience judges must defer? Logically, it should be the one most affected, which would imply that no sentence of death from a sessions court should be overturned. How does a judge in the State or Central capital determine that the local community had not been galvanised into bloodlust?</p><p align="justify">But what would happen, for instance, in the cases that should shortly come to trial for the murders in the recent communal violence in U.P.? The most appalling cruelty is committed during communal riots. One of the criteria invoked in the Delhi judgment to justify the death sentence, the barbaric and revolting nature of the murder, would apply. In these cases, however there would be no collective conscience to consult, since the community is split in two. Each half would demand the death sentence for the murderers from the other community, but mourn its own murderers as martyrs if they were hanged. In these cases, therefore, where one of the criteria laid down by the Supreme Court conflicts with the other, which will prevail?</p><p align="justify">Nor should we forget that, while the use of torture to bring about death is rare in crimes committed by individuals, it is routinely practised by the army and the paramilitary in States wracked by political violence. Unaccounted numbers of Kashmiris disappeared into the maws of Papa-II, the infamous torture chamber run by the paramilitary in Srinagar. Those bodies that were recovered bore marks of the most terrible torture. Very large numbers disappeared forever. To say that the collective conscience of the Kashmiri Muslim community is merely shocked would be an insult. It has lived with rage, pain and a searing sense of injustice for two decades; its tormenters have escaped with impunity, because the collective conscience of the rest of the country has not even been stirred.</p><p align="justify">Across our subcontinent, in Manipur, similar cases abound, including that of Thangjam Manorama, taken from her home in Imphal late at night by a unit of the Assam Rifles, led by two Majors, tortured with a knife, forced into her genitals in the presence of her family, tortured even more brutally later, raped and shot. Her body was not received by dignitaries, it was found lying in a ditch. There have been many other killings like this, but this one, like the gang rape case in Delhi, set off a storm, leading to a "naked protest" by Manipuri women in front of the paramilitary camp. If any crime matched both the criteria invoked in the Delhi judgment, the bestiality of the murder and the collective indignation it produced, this one did. However, the officers and men responsible are immune because the army's Court of Enquiry held they were all innocent.</p><p align="justify"><em>Justice not blind</em></p><p align="justify">These communities, and the tribals in the naxal belt, will argue bitterly that justice is not blind; it sees who you are and where you come from and, in its scales, the collective conscience of the community only registers when it has political weight. If you are a Kashmiri or a Manipuri, your shock is gossamer.</p><p align="justify">One of the crimes that the Supreme Court has laid down as likely to shock the collective conscience of the community is a "murder committed in the course of betrayal of the motherland." It appears murders committed in its ostensible defence do not shock. Patriotism is the last refuge of the serial torturer. If he walks free, though, why should others hang?</p><p align="justify">There is a further danger. Because public opinion is manipulated with modern technology, the outrage which the judiciary will interpret as an indignation that must be assuaged with blood can only be provoked by the technically adept, or those with the money to influence the media. The men sentenced to death in Delhi, and those hanged over the last year, were mostly from the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. Neither they nor their families had the financial or technical means to harness the media or the social media in their defence. There is, therefore, an inevitable class bias built into a process where a judge pronounces the verdict of death on the basis of a public outpouring of rage, which the accused have no means of contesting.</p><p align="justify">The brutality that brings their crimes into the ambit of the rarest of rare is bred into their lives. They have gone to bed hungry as children, suffered illnesses without medicine, defecated in the open, been savaged on the whims of adults, treated like dirt. Compassion has never touched them. Life has beaten sensitivity out of them. Men forced to live like brutes will kill like brutes. When these men, society's victims, find a victim, they take a lifetime's frustrations out on him or her. Their murders and rapes are unlikely to be refined. Their brutality might appal a court and nauseate the middle class, by whose standards they are judged, but it is a product of what the community has made of them. This is what should shock the collective conscience of the community.</p><p align="justify">Lastly, and most troublingly, if a man is to be hanged because the judge feels that the collective conscience is so shocked that it will expect him to inflict the death penalty, can a trial be fair, with the accused presumed to be innocent until he is proven guilty? If, before the trial starts, society has already made up its mind, in the judge's view, that it will only be satisfied with the death penalty, it has also determined who the guilty are. It is hard to believe that a judge can hear a case entirely on merits, and take popular sentiment into account only at the verdict. On the contrary, if it is now the law that a judge must impose the death penalty in cases where he has concluded that the community demands it, he would be shirking his duty if he were to absolve the men on trial, denying the community, whose servant he is, the satisfaction of a human sacrifice.</p><p align="justify">When the Supreme Court decreed that the death penalty should be imposed only in the rarest of rare cases, it tried, humanely and honourably, to prevent a rash of judicial killings, but the criteria it has laid down inherently lead to decisions that are, in every sense, fatally subjective. The road to the gallows might be paved with its good intentions, but on matters of life and death, the law cannot be so cruelly flawed.</p><p align="justify">Tarquin, Auden famously wrote, was ravished by his post-coital sadness. Is the "community" in India ever choked by a post-garroting remorse? Conscience is the uncomfortable reminder that we have done something wrong.</p><p align="justify">In a nation that aspires to be a modern democracy and claims to be a modern incarnation of the most ancient living civilisation, the death penalty is a barbaric anomaly. It is time the collective conscience of the community repudiated it.</p><p align="justify"><em>(Satyabrata Pal is a Member of the National Human Rights Commission. These views are personal) </em></p>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<br><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/why-capital-punishment-must-go/article5193670.ece?homepage=true" class="re" target="_blank">The Hindu, 3 October, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/why-capital-punishment-must-go/article5193670.ece?homepage=true</a><div class="clear"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 18px;">
<p class="post-tag">Tagged with:
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=capital punishment"
title="capital punishment">
capital punishment </a>
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Human Rights"
title="Human Rights">
Human Rights </a>
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Law and Justice"
title="Law and Justice">
Law and Justice </a>
<a class="tagcloud5"
href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=crime"
title="crime">
crime </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<br><br>
<div class="widget-top">
<h4>Related Articles</h4>
<div class="stripe-line"></div>
</div>
<div class="widget-container">
<ul id="recentcomments">
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/india-s-trigger-happy-internet-shutdowns-hurt-its-poor-and-marginalised-anirudh-s-k.html"
title="India’s Trigger-Happy Internet Shutdowns Hurt its Poor and Marginalised - Anirudh S.K.">
India’s Trigger-Happy Internet Shutdowns Hurt its Poor and Marginalised - Anirudh S.K. </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/in-the-age-of-false-news-a-journalist-a-murder-and-the-pursuit-of-an-unfinished-investigation-in-india-forbidden-stories.html"
title="In the Age of False News: a Murdered Journalist and an Unfinished Investigation in India - Forbidden Stories">
In the Age of False News: a Murdered Journalist and an Unfinished Investigation in India - Forbidden Stories </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/manual-scavenging-killed-19-people-in-mumbai-in-five-years-bmc-records-zero-deaths-aarefa-johari.html"
title="Manual scavenging killed 19 people in Mumbai in five years, BMC records zero deaths - Aarefa Johari">
Manual scavenging killed 19 people in Mumbai in five years, BMC records zero deaths - Aarefa Johari </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/human-rights-defenders-should-conform-to-law-of-land-says-solicitor-general-tushar-mehta-kallol-bhattacherjee.html"
title="Human rights defenders should conform to law of land, says Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta -Kallol Bhattacherjee">
Human rights defenders should conform to law of land, says Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta -Kallol Bhattacherjee </a>
</li>
<li class="recentcomments">
<a href="https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/jailed-or-punished-with-or-without-trial-how-the-state-misuses-the-law-against-india-s-inconvenient-citizens-mani-chander.html"
title="Jailed Or Punished, With Or Without Trial: How The State Misuses The Law Against India’s Inconvenient Citizens -Mani Chander">
Jailed Or Punished, With Or Without Trial: How The State Misuses The Law Against India’s Inconvenient Citizens -Mani Chander </a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="comment-respond" id="respond">
<a name="commentbox"> </a>
<h3 class="comment-reply-title" id="reply-title">Write Comments</h3>
<form method="post" accept-charset="utf-8" role="form" action="/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html"><div style="display:none;"><input type="hidden" name="_method" value="POST"/></div> <form class="comment-form" id="commentform" method="post" action="#commentbox" onSubmit="return validate()"
name="cmtform">
<input type="hidden" name="cmttype" value="articlecmt"/>
<input type="hidden" name="article_id" value="22729"/>
<p class="comment-notes">Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked <span
class="required">*</span></p>
<p class="comment-form-author">
<label for="commenterName">Name</label>
<span class="required">*</span>
<input type="text" aria-required="true" size="30"
value=""
name="commenterName" id="commenterName" required="true">
</p>
<p class="comment-form-email">
<label for="commenterEmail">Email</label> <span class="required">*</span>
<input aria-required="true" size="30" name="commenterEmail" id="commenterEmail" type="email"
value=""
required="true">
</p>
<p class="comment-form-contact">
<label for="commenterPh">Contact No.</label>
<input type="text" size="30"
value=""
name="commenterPh" id="commenterPh">
</p>
<p class="comment-form-comment">
<label for="comment">Comment</label>
<textarea aria-required="true" required="true" rows="8" cols="45" name="comment"
id="comment"></textarea>
</p>
<p class="comment-form-comment">
<label for="comment">Type the characters you see in the image below <span class="required">*</span><br><img
class="captchaImg"
src="https://im4change.in/securimage_show_art.php?tk=1785245925" alt="captcha"/>
</label>
</p>
<input type="text" name="vrcode" required="true"/>
<p class="form-submit" style="width: 200px;">
<input type="submit" value="Post Comment" id="submit" name="submit">
</p></form>
</div>
<style>
.ui-widget-content {
height: auto !important;
}
</style>
<div id="share-modal"></div>
<style>
.middleContent a{
background-color: rgba(108,172,228,.2);
}
.middleContent a:hover{
background-color: #418fde;
border-color: #418fde;
color: #000;
}
</style>
<script>
function shareArticle(article_id) {
var options = {
modal: true,
height: 'auto',
width: 600 + 'px'
};
$('#share-modal').html("");
$('#share-modal').load('https://im4change.in/share_article?article_id=' + article_id).dialog(options).dialog('open');
}
function postShare() {
var param = 'article_id=' + $("#article_id").val();
param = param + '&y_name=' + $("#y_name").val();
param = param + '&y_email=' + $("#y_email").val();
param = param + '&f_name=' + $("#f_name").val();
param = param + '&f_email=' + $("#f_email").val();
param = param + '&y_msg=' + $("#y_msg").val();
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: 'https://im4change.in/post_share_article',
data: param,
success: function (response) {
$('#share-modal').html("Thank You, Your message posted to ");
}
});
return false;
}
</script> </div>
</div>
<!-- Right Side Section Start -->
<!-- MAP Section START -->
<aside class="sidebar indexMarg">
<div class="ad-cell">
<a href="https://im4change.in/statemap.php" title="">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/map_new_version.png?1582080666" alt="India State Map" class="indiamap" width="232" height="252"/> </a>
<div class="rightmapbox">
<div id="sideOne" class="docltitle"><a href="https://im4change.in/state-report/india/36" target="_blank">DOCUMENTS/
REPORTS</a></div>
<div id="sideTwo" class="statetitle"><a href="https://im4change.in/states.php"target="_blank">STATE DATA/
HDRs.</a></div>
</div>
<div class="widget widgePadTop"></div>
</div>
</aside>
<!-- MAP Section END -->
<aside class="sidebar sidePadbottom">
<div class="rightsmlbox1" >
<a href="https://im4change.in/knowledge_gateway" target="_blank" style="color: #035588;
font-size: 17px;">
KNOWLEDGE GATEWAY
</a>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title">
<a href="https://im4change.in/newsletter" target="_blank">
NEWSLETTER
</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1" style="height: 325px;">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title">
Interview with Prof. Ravi Srivastava
</p>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/interview-with-prof-ravi-srivastava-on-current-economic-crisis">
<img width="250" height="200" src="/images/interview_video_home.jpg" alt="Interview with Prof. Ravi Srivastava"/>
</a>
<!--
<iframe width="250" height="200" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MmaTlntk-wc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>-->
</p>
<a href="https://im4change.in/videogallery" class="more-link CatArchalAnch1" target="_blank">
More videos
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<!--div id="sstory" class="rightboxicons"></div--->
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a href="https://im4change.in/list-success-stories" target="_blank">Success Stories</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a
href="https://im4change.in/interviews" target="_blank">Interviews</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a href="https://www.commoncause.in/page.php?id=10" >Donate</a></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1">
<div>
<p class="rightsmlbox1_title"><a
href="https://im4change.in/marquee"
class="isf_link more-link" title="India Focus?" style="border: 4px solid #fdd922;width: 90%;background-color: #fdd922;text-align: center;color: #000000;font-size:18px" target="_blank">India Focus</a></p> </div>
</div>
<div class="rightsmlbox1" style="height: 104px !important;">
<a href="https://im4change.in/quarterly_reports.php" target="_blank">
Quarterly Reports on Effect of Economic Slowdown on Employment in India (2008 - 2015)
</a>
</div>
<!-- <div class="rightsmlbox1">
<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.im4.im4change" target="_blank">
</a></div> -->
<!-- <section class="cat-box recent-box secMarg">
<h2 class="cat-box-title">Most Visited</h2>
</section> -->
<!-- accordion Starts here -->
<!-- <div id="accordion" class="accordMarg">
</div> -->
<!-- accordion ends here -->
<!-- Widget Tag Cloud Starts here -->
<div id="tag_cloud-2" class="widget widget_tag_cloud">
<section class="cat-box recent-box secMarg">
<h2 class="cat-box-title">MOST VISITED TAGS</h2>
</section>
<div class="widget-top wiPdTp">
<div class="stripe-line"></div>
</div>
<div class="widget-container">
<div class="tagcloud">
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Agriculture"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Agriculture</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Food Security"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Food Security</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Law and Justice"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Law and Justice</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Health"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Health</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Right to Food"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Right to Food</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Corruption"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Corruption</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=farming"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">farming</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Environment"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Environment</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Right to Information"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Right to Information</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=NREGS"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">NREGS</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Human Rights"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Human Rights</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Governance"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Governance</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PDS"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PDS</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=COVID-19"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">COVID-19</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Land Acquisition"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Land Acquisition</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=mgnrega"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">mgnrega</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Farmers"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Farmers</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=transparency"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">transparency</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Gender"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Gender</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Poverty"
target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Poverty</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Farm Laws" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Farm Laws
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Citizenship Amendment Act" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Citizenship Amendment Act
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=CAA NPR NRIC" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">CAA NPR NRIC
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Job Losses" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Job Losses
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Migrant Workers" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Migrant Workers
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=Unemployment" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">Unemployment
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PMGKAY" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PMGKAY
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PM-KISAN" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PM-KISAN
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=PM-CARES" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">PM-CARES
</a>
<a href="https://im4change.in/search?qryStr=LFPR" target="_blank" class="tag-link-4 font4">LFPR
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Widget Tag Cloud Ends here -->
</aside>
<!-- Right Side Section End -->
</div>
<section class="cat-box cats-review-box footerSec">
<h2 class="cat-box-title vSec CatArcha">Video
Archives</h2>
<h2 class="cat-box-title CatArchaTitle">Archives</h2>
<div class="cat-box-content">
<div class="reviews-cat">
<div class="CatArchaDiv1">
<div class="CatArchaDiv2">
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/moving-upstream-luni-fellowship.html" target="_blank">
Moving Upstream: Luni – Fellowship </a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/135-million-indians-exited-multidimensional-poverty-as-per-government-figures-is-that-the-same-as-poverty-reduction.html" target="_blank">
135 Million Indians Exited “Multidimensional" Poverty as per Government... </a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/explainer-why-are-tomato-prices-on-fire.html" target="_blank">
Explainer: Why are Tomato Prices on Fire? </a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57/nsso-survey-only-39-1-of-all-households-have-drinking-water-within-dwelling-46-7-of-rural-households-use-firewood-for-cooking.html" target="_blank">
NSSO Survey: Only 39.1% of all Households have Drinking... </a>
</li>
<li class="CatArchalLi1">
<a href="https://im4change.in/news-alerts-57"
class="more-link CatArchalAnch1" target="_blank">
More...
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/I51LYnP8BOk/1.jpg"
alt=" Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Short-Video-on-im4change-Hindi-website-Inclusive-Media-for-Change" target="_blank">
Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/kNqha-SwfIY/1.jpg"
alt=" "Session 1: Scope of IDEA and AgriStack" in Exploring...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Session-1- Scope-of-IDEA-and-AgriStack-in-Exploring-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-29-April-2022" target="_blank">
"Session 1: Scope of IDEA and AgriStack" in Exploring... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/6kIVjlgZItk/1.jpg"
alt=" "Session 2: Farmer Centric Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Session-2-Farmer-Centric-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-in-Exploring-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-29-April-2022" target="_blank">
"Session 2: Farmer Centric Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="CatArchaWidth">
<img class="CatArchaImg"
src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/2BeHTu0y7xc/1.jpg"
alt=" "Session 3: Future of Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...">
<p class="CatArchaPPad">
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Session-3-Future-of-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-in-Exploring-Digitalisation-in-Agriculture-29-April-2022" target="_blank">
"Session 3: Future of Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring... </a>
</p>
</div>
<div class="divWidth">
<ul class="divWidthMarg">
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Public-Spending-on-Agriculture-in-India-Source-Foundation-for-Agrarian-Studies"
title="Public Spending on Agriculture in India (Source: Foundation for Agrarian Studies)" target="_blank">
Public Spending on Agriculture in India (Source: Foundation for...</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Agrarian-Change-Seminar-Protests-against-the-New-Farm-Laws-in-India-by-Prof-Vikas-Rawal-JNU-Source-Journal-Of-Agrarian-Change"
title="Agrarian Change Seminar: 'Protests against the New Farm Laws in India' by Prof. Vikas Rawal, JNU (Source: Journal Of Agrarian Change) " target="_blank">
Agrarian Change Seminar: 'Protests against the New Farm Laws...</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/Webinar-Ramrao-The-Story-of-India-Farm-Crisis-Source-Azim-Premji-University"
title="Webinar: Ramrao - The Story of India's Farm Crisis (Source: Azim Premji University)" target="_blank">
Webinar: Ramrao - The Story of India's Farm Crisis...</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://im4change.in/video/water-and-agricultural-transformation-in-India"
title="Water and Agricultural Transformation in India: A Symbiotic Relationship (Source: IGIDR)" target="_blank">
Water and Agricultural Transformation in India: A Symbiotic Relationship...</a>
</li>
<li class="CatArchalLi1">
<a href="https://im4change.in/videogallery"
class="more-link CatArchalAnch1" target="_blank">
More...
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section> </div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<!-- Footer option Starts here -->
<div class="footer-bottom fade-in animated4">
<div class="container">
<div class="social-icons icon_flat">
<p class="SocialMargTop"> Website Developed by <a target="_blank" title="Web Development"
class="wot right"
href="http://www.ravinderkhurana.com/" rel="nofollow">
RAVINDErkHURANA.com</a></p>
</div>
<div class="alignleft">
<a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/objectives-8.html"
class="link"
title="Objectives">Objectives</a> | <a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/about-us-9.html"
class="link" title="About Us">About Us</a> | <a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/media-workshops.php"
class="ucwords">Workshops</a> | <a
target="_blank" href="https://im4change.in/disclaimer/disclaimer-149.html"
title="Disclaimer">Disclaimer</a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Footer option ends here -->
</div>
<div id="connect">
<a target="_blank"
href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html"
title="Share on Facebook">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/Facebook.png?1582080640" alt="share on Facebook" class="ImgBorder"/>
</a><br/>
<a target="_blank"
href="http://twitter.com/share?text=Im4change&url=https://im4change.in/latest-news-updates/why-capital-punishment-must-go-satyabrata-pal-22883.html"
title="Share on Twitter">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/twitter.png?1582080632" alt="Twitter" class="ImgBorder"/> </a>
<br/>
<a href="/feeds" title="RSS Feed" target="_blank">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/rss.png?1582080632" alt="RSS" class="ImgBorder"/>
</a>
<br/>
<a class="feedback-link" id="feedbackFormLink" href="#">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/feedback.png?1582080630" alt="Feedback" class="ImgBorder"/>
</a> <br/>
<a href="javascript:function iprl5(){var d=document,z=d.createElement('scr'+'ipt'),b=d.body,l=d.location;try{if(!b)throw(0);d.title='(Saving...) '+d.title;z.setAttribute('src',l.protocol+'//www.instapaper.com/j/WKrH3R7ORD5p?u='+encodeURIComponent(l.href)+'&t='+(new Date().getTime()));b.appendChild(z);}catch(e){alert('Please wait until the page has loaded.');}}iprl5();void(0)"
class="bookmarklet" onclick="return explain_bookmarklet();">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/read-it-later.png?1582080632" alt="Read Later" class="ImgBorder"/> </a>
</div>
<!-- Feedback form Starts here -->
<div id="feedbackForm" class="overlay_form" class="ImgBorder">
<h2>Contact Form</h2>
<div id="contactform1">
<div id="formleft">
<form id="submitform" action="/contactus.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="submitform" value="submitform"/>
<input type="hidden" name="salt_key" value="a0e0f2c6a0644a70e57ad2c96829709a"/>
<input type="hidden" name="ref" value="feedback"/>
<fieldset>
<label>Name :</label>
<input type="text" name="name" class="tbox" required/>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<label>Email :</label>
<input type="text" name="email" class="tbox" required/>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<label>Message :</label>
<textarea rows="5" cols="20" name="message" required></textarea>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
Please enter security code
<div class="clear"></div>
<input type="text" name="vrcode" class="tbox"/>
</fieldset>
<fieldset>
<input type="submit" class="button" value="Submit"/>
<a href="#" id="closefeedbakcformLink">Close</a>
</fieldset>
</form>
</div>
<div class="clearfix"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="donate_popup" class="modal" style="max-width: 800px;">
<table width="100%" border="1">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<b>Support im4change</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="25%" valign="middle">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo2.jpg?1582080632" alt="" width="100%"/> </td>
<td style="padding-left:10px;padding-top:10px;">
<form action="https://im4change.in/donate" method="get">
<table width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
<tr>
<td width="33%" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
10
</td>
<td width="33%" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
100
</td>
<td width="33%" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
1000
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
50
</td>
<td style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
500
</td>
<td style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
<input type="text" name="price" placeholder="?" style="font-family: 'Script Font', cursive, Arial;font-size: 20px;font-weight: 700;">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" align="right">
<input type="button" name="Pay" value="Pay"
style="width: 200px;background-color: rgb(205, 35, 36);color: #ffffff;"/>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div><script type='text/javascript'>
/* <![CDATA[ */
var tievar = {'go_to': 'Go to...'};
/* ]]> */
</script>
<script src="/js/tie-scripts.js?1575549704"></script><script src="/js/bootstrap.js?1575549704"></script><script src="/js/jquery.modal.min.js?1578284310"></script><script>
$(document).ready(function() {
// tell the autocomplete function to get its data from our php script
$('#s').autocomplete({
source: "/autocomplete"
});
});
</script>
<script src="/vj-main-sw-register.js" async></script>
<script>function init(){var imgDefer=document.getElementsByTagName('img');for(var i=0;i<imgDefer.length;i++){if(imgDefer[i].getAttribute('data-src')){imgDefer[i].setAttribute('src',imgDefer[i].getAttribute('data-src'))}}}
window.onload=init;</script>
</body>
</html>'
}
$cookies = []
$values = [
(int) 0 => 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
]
$name = 'Content-Type'
$first = true
$value = 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitHeaders() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 55
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why capital punishment must go-Satyabrata Pal
When a death sentence is given to satisfy the "collective conscience of the community," it raises troubling questions about the fairness of the trial
The verdict of death for the bestial gang rape in Delhi last December is based on Supreme Court judgments, which stipulate that capital punishment will be imposed in "the rarest of rare" cases, where the community's "collective conscience is so shocked that it will expect the holders of the judicial power centre to inflict death penalty" because of the abhorrent nature of the crime, which would include "the manner of the commission of the murder," for instance, "if it was committed in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner," or where the victim was "subjected to inhuman acts of torture or cruelty in order to bring about his or her death."
Dangerous
There are several dangers in a process in which a life is taken because that is what the community wants, as in the Roman amphitheatre, where the mob decided if the defeated gladiator should die. Apart from turning the judiciary into a khap panchayat, how does this august fraternity commune with the community, or divine that its conscience wants blood? In the 21st century, flooded as it is with 24-hour television and social media on tap, outrage can be manufactured, reality distorted. Even when, as after the Delhi crime, the revulsion was real and widespread, how does the judiciary determine that those who were shocked would only recover with the deaths of those who had shocked them? Diplomats, who must assess the mood of the country they are posted in, take it as given that the media only partially reflects it, since the strident few drown out the diffident majority. An Embassy spreads its tentacles wide, speaking to and gauging the mood of people in different sectors, levels and locations, to understand what they really want. No judge can do this. What a judge takes as the collective conscience of the community can only be the slant carried by the media. To base decisions on life and death on this is injudicious.
Secondly, what is the community whose conscience the judge must tap into and channel into a pronouncement of death? For a sessions judge, it will presumably be that of the local community. If that judgment is overturned on appeal, it can either mean that the judge had misread that conscience, or that the High Court felt that the conscience of the larger community of the State did not want blood. If the Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence, this would presumably mean that the national conscience was at one with the local, but that of the State concerned was out of step with both. Which is the segment of the community to whose conscience judges must defer? Logically, it should be the one most affected, which would imply that no sentence of death from a sessions court should be overturned. How does a judge in the State or Central capital determine that the local community had not been galvanised into bloodlust?
But what would happen, for instance, in the cases that should shortly come to trial for the murders in the recent communal violence in U.P.? The most appalling cruelty is committed during communal riots. One of the criteria invoked in the Delhi judgment to justify the death sentence, the barbaric and revolting nature of the murder, would apply. In these cases, however there would be no collective conscience to consult, since the community is split in two. Each half would demand the death sentence for the murderers from the other community, but mourn its own murderers as martyrs if they were hanged. In these cases, therefore, where one of the criteria laid down by the Supreme Court conflicts with the other, which will prevail?
Nor should we forget that, while the use of torture to bring about death is rare in crimes committed by individuals, it is routinely practised by the army and the paramilitary in States wracked by political violence. Unaccounted numbers of Kashmiris disappeared into the maws of Papa-II, the infamous torture chamber run by the paramilitary in Srinagar. Those bodies that were recovered bore marks of the most terrible torture. Very large numbers disappeared forever. To say that the collective conscience of the Kashmiri Muslim community is merely shocked would be an insult. It has lived with rage, pain and a searing sense of injustice for two decades; its tormenters have escaped with impunity, because the collective conscience of the rest of the country has not even been stirred.
Across our subcontinent, in Manipur, similar cases abound, including that of Thangjam Manorama, taken from her home in Imphal late at night by a unit of the Assam Rifles, led by two Majors, tortured with a knife, forced into her genitals in the presence of her family, tortured even more brutally later, raped and shot. Her body was not received by dignitaries, it was found lying in a ditch. There have been many other killings like this, but this one, like the gang rape case in Delhi, set off a storm, leading to a "naked protest" by Manipuri women in front of the paramilitary camp. If any crime matched both the criteria invoked in the Delhi judgment, the bestiality of the murder and the collective indignation it produced, this one did. However, the officers and men responsible are immune because the army's Court of Enquiry held they were all innocent.
Justice not blind
These communities, and the tribals in the naxal belt, will argue bitterly that justice is not blind; it sees who you are and where you come from and, in its scales, the collective conscience of the community only registers when it has political weight. If you are a Kashmiri or a Manipuri, your shock is gossamer.
One of the crimes that the Supreme Court has laid down as likely to shock the collective conscience of the community is a "murder committed in the course of betrayal of the motherland." It appears murders committed in its ostensible defence do not shock. Patriotism is the last refuge of the serial torturer. If he walks free, though, why should others hang?
There is a further danger. Because public opinion is manipulated with modern technology, the outrage which the judiciary will interpret as an indignation that must be assuaged with blood can only be provoked by the technically adept, or those with the money to influence the media. The men sentenced to death in Delhi, and those hanged over the last year, were mostly from the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society. Neither they nor their families had the financial or technical means to harness the media or the social media in their defence. There is, therefore, an inevitable class bias built into a process where a judge pronounces the verdict of death on the basis of a public outpouring of rage, which the accused have no means of contesting.
The brutality that brings their crimes into the ambit of the rarest of rare is bred into their lives. They have gone to bed hungry as children, suffered illnesses without medicine, defecated in the open, been savaged on the whims of adults, treated like dirt. Compassion has never touched them. Life has beaten sensitivity out of them. Men forced to live like brutes will kill like brutes. When these men, society's victims, find a victim, they take a lifetime's frustrations out on him or her. Their murders and rapes are unlikely to be refined. Their brutality might appal a court and nauseate the middle class, by whose standards they are judged, but it is a product of what the community has made of them. This is what should shock the collective conscience of the community.
Lastly, and most troublingly, if a man is to be hanged because the judge feels that the collective conscience is so shocked that it will expect him to inflict the death penalty, can a trial be fair, with the accused presumed to be innocent until he is proven guilty? If, before the trial starts, society has already made up its mind, in the judge's view, that it will only be satisfied with the death penalty, it has also determined who the guilty are. It is hard to believe that a judge can hear a case entirely on merits, and take popular sentiment into account only at the verdict. On the contrary, if it is now the law that a judge must impose the death penalty in cases where he has concluded that the community demands it, he would be shirking his duty if he were to absolve the men on trial, denying the community, whose servant he is, the satisfaction of a human sacrifice.
When the Supreme Court decreed that the death penalty should be imposed only in the rarest of rare cases, it tried, humanely and honourably, to prevent a rash of judicial killings, but the criteria it has laid down inherently lead to decisions that are, in every sense, fatally subjective. The road to the gallows might be paved with its good intentions, but on matters of life and death, the law cannot be so cruelly flawed.
Tarquin, Auden famously wrote, was ravished by his post-coital sadness. Is the "community" in India ever choked by a post-garroting remorse? Conscience is the uncomfortable reminder that we have done something wrong.
In a nation that aspires to be a modern democracy and claims to be a modern incarnation of the most ancient living civilisation, the death penalty is a barbaric anomaly. It is time the collective conscience of the community repudiated it.
(Satyabrata Pal is a Member of the National Human Rights Commission. These views are personal)
Write Comments