August 4
INDIA:
India and the death penalty
Although India is one of a number of countries around the world which
still practises capital punishment, it is rarely used.
A 1983 ruling by the country's Supreme Court stated that the death penalty
should be imposed only in "the rarest of rare cases".
Only particularly gruesome or politically sensitive cases have attracted
the penalty.
The assassins of India's independence leader, Mahatma Gandhi, and former
prime minister Indira Gandhi were among those executed in the past 60
years.
Special circumstances
In India the death penalty is carried out by hanging.
An attempt to challenge this method of execution failed in the Supreme
Court, which stated in its 1983 judgement that hanging did not involve
torture, barbarity, humiliation or degradation.
The last execution in India was held in August 2004 when Dhananjoy
Chatterjee, convicted of raping and murdering a schoolgirl in 1990, was
hanged to death.
It was the 1st such execution since 1995.
Under Indian law, the death penalty can be imposed for:
- murder
- gang robbery with murder
-abetting the suicide of a child or insane person
- waging war against the government
- abetting mutiny by a member of the armed forces
In recent years, however, special courts have also extended the penalty to
cases of terrorism under anti-terror legislation.
And some people are pushing for it to be used against rapists.
"There were fewer death penalty cases in the 70s and 80s," constitutional
lawyer Rajiv Dhawan told the BBC News website.
But he said death sentences appeared to be on the rise in recent years.
Over the past year, Indian courts have handed out three death sentences in
cases relating to rape and murder.
Appeal
Once sentenced, a defendant has the right to appeal against the sentence
as well as the conviction.
The appeal will be heard by a higher court and can go all the way up to
the Supreme Court, a process that can take 2 to 3 years.
If all fails, the president of India can be approached to grant clemency -
something he can do only after seeking the advice of the Indian cabinet.
In the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case a special court sentenced to death
26 men and women in 1998.
In May 1999 the Supreme Court commuted 3 of the death sentences to life
imprisonment and released 19 others.
Of the remaining 4, 1 was granted clemency in August 2000, while the
appeals of the others are pending before the president.
(source: BBC News)
