The cries for abolition of death sentence notwithstanding, the Supreme Court has said leniency to convicts of brutal murders may undermine public confidence in the efficacy of law.
NEW DELHI: The cries for abolition of death sentence notwithstanding, the Supreme Court (SC) has said leniency to convicts of brutal murders may undermine public confidence in the efficacy of law.
In such cases, death penalty is the correct sentence to strengthen society's faith in the system, the court said.
"Undue sympathy to impose an inadequate sentence would do more harm to the justice system," a bench of justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam observed recently, awarding death to a Mumbai daily-wage worker who had raped two minor sisters and killed them thereafter at his hometown Satara in Maharashtra about eight years ago.
"If for extremely heinous crimes of murder, perpetrated in a very brutal manner without provocation, the most deterrent punishment is not given, the case of deterrent punishment will lose its relevance," the court said.
The Bombay high court had also confirmed death to the accused. "The proportion between crime and punishment is a goal respected in principle and, in spite of errant notions, it remains a strong influence on the determination of sentences," the judges explained.
"Offences against women, kidnapping, misappropriation of public money, treason and other offences involving moral turpitude or delinquency which have a great impact on the social order and public interest cannot be lost sight of and per se require exemplary treatment," the court said.
"Justice demands that courts should impose punishment befitting the crime so as to deflect public abhorrence of the crime. The court must not only keep in view the rights of the criminal, but also that of the victim and society at large while considering the imposition of an appropriate punishment," the apex court said.
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