18 October 2000
The Times of India
NEW DELHI: The South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) has suggested to the Constitution Review Commission that it should recommend abolishing death penalty. However, till it is abolished, the SAHRDC has asked for strict and explicit standards which comply with the emergent international consensus towards minimisation of the death penalty. The commission had approached the SAHRDC for suggestions on the death penalty.
According to the submission made to the commission, despite the international trend towards abolishing death penalty-114 countries have done away with it- India has done nothing in this regard. Ironically, India has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) but has not followed it by abolishing the death penalty.
In fact, capital punishment is included in a number of legislative acts such as the Indian Penal Code, provisions of national security legislation and anti-narcotics legislation. The submission also takes note of the fact that even the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty in Jagmohan Singh vs State of UP. But the poplar understanding of this judgment was that death penalty should be a narrow exception, not the rule.
According to sources in the commission, chairman M.N. Venkatachalaiah has reacted positively to the proposal and might suggest a ban on death penalty.