Abolish death penalty, say rights groups

In the wake of a court stay on the execution of three convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and the ongoing debate over the gains from capital punishment, rights organisations have demanded that death sentence should be abolished.

“It's high time that parliament takes appropriate steps to abolish such provision from our statute books," said a statement by People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

"The provision of death penalty was introduced by the British in the Indian Penal Code in 1860 but the same has been abolished by them from their own statute books - being incompatible with the values of a civilised society and as done by a large number of countries," the PUCL said Sunday.

“Judgments of the courts are not always correct. The Supreme Court itself has stated that its judgments are correct not because they always may be correct but because they  are final,” it said.

The Madras High Court on August 30 stayed for eight weeks the hanging of the three convicts sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. The three were scheduled to be hanged on September 9.

According to international rights organisation, Amnesty International, the world is moving towards abolishing death penalty.

“Fewer countries than ever before are carrying out executions. As it did with slavery and apartheid, the world is rejecting this embarrassment to humanity,” said an official of Amnesty International.

“We are moving closer to a death penalty-free world, but until that day every execution must be opposed,” the official added.

In a comparative graph of countries which gave death penalties from 1991-2010, Amnesty said 23 countries carried out executions last year. Methods of execution in 2010 included beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection and shooting.

In 2005, 22 countries had carried out executions, in 2006 it was 25, in 2007 it was 24, in 2008 it was 25 and in 2009 it was 19.

“One more country, Gabon, abolished the death penalty for all crimes and the president of Mongolia established an official moratorium on executions. For the third time, the UN General Assembly adopted with more support than ever before a resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty,” Amnesty said.

“Countries that retain the death penalty defended their position by claiming that their use of the death penalty is consistent with international human rights law,” it added.

Among the countries which still carry out executions are the US, Japan, China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore and Nigeria.