-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Shying away from a blanket ban on death penalty the Law Commission is likely to recommend "gradual" abolition in all cases, except terror-related ones, as practiced in countries like the United Kingdom. Following extensive consultations, the panel has proposed that heinous crimes be meted out harsher punishments ranging from 30-60 years as practiced in states like Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The panel headed by Justice A P Shah...
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Death penalty files ‘lost, eaten by termites’ -Pradeep Thakur & Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Records of death penalty Convicts who have been executed since independence have gone missing from many prisons with the National Law University (NLU), conducting a first of its kind study, able to confirm data related to 755 executions since 1947. "Some prison authorities have written to us that either the records have been lost or destroyed by termites," NLU director Anup Surendranath told TOI, who is...
More »You were wrong, My Lords -Avijit Chatterjee
-The Telegraph The debate around Yakub Memon’s hanging highlights the many cases of people who were hanged but who should have lived. Indeed, the Supreme Court admitted in 2009 that it had wrongly sentenced 15 people to death in 15 years. Avijit Chatterjee looks at some cases It was a mistake, the Supreme Court later said. But by then it was too late. Ravji Rao, or Ram Chandra, had been hanged to...
More »Debate legitimate but can’t abolish death penalty, says Centre
-Hindustan Times The Narendra Modi government on Thursday called the debate on abolishing capital punishment “legitimate” but made it clear there was no way India could afford to take the leap now due to terrorism in India and the country’s disturbed neighbourhood. Finance minister Arun Jaitley also rejected suggestions that the government had been in a hurry to execute 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon and made it clear that...
More »Here's proof that poor get gallows, rich mostly escape -Himanshi Dhawan & Pradeep Thakur
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The fact that our legal system is skewed against the poor and marginalized is well-known. And to that extent, it's only expected that they get harsher punishment than the rich. But here are figures that tell the full story. A first of its kind study, which has analyzed data from interviews with 373 death row Convicts over a 15-year period, has found three-fourths of those given...
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