Law Commission Says No to Death: An Inch Towards Life

Newsclick interviewed Anup Surendranath, Director, Centre on Death Penalty, NLU on the Law Commission report which has recommended that the country should move towards abolishing death penalty.  Anup called it a landmark move but also raised questions over the reason given by Law Commission for keeping the death penalty applicable in terror cases. He also pointed out that the ‘rare of the rarest’ clause is not systematically followed in most of the lower courts where judgment is more based on emotional stands of the judges. Anup further explained that the judicial processes are usually subjected to biasness due to the class structures of the accused. He emphasized that since judiciary itself has acknowledged its errors in such cases, one must abolish death penalty in all cases as it is gross violation of human rights. Mr. Surendranath also raised questions over the efficiency of police forces in carrying out interrogation process. He pointed out that our forces are not well equipped and sensitized which has resulted in cases of extreme torture and custodial killings which must be rectified. Anup stressed on the fact that repressive laws can never be a medium for deterrence and hence country should move towards reformative laws.