Sunday, September 04, 2011

Delayed execution of death sentence

A lively debate is raging in the country regarding undue delays in execution of death sentences. There are people questioning the very wisdom of capital punishment. Since capital punishment is not (yet) outlawed in our country, the Supreme Court has wisely laid down that it is to be imposed only in rarest of rare cases.

Delays in implementation of any judicial decree are to be avoided. Whenever death sentences are awarded by the courts, the accused invariably go on appeals and if and when the judicial appeal process comes to an end they plead for mercy from the President. Delayed responses to such petitions has become the norm. Delays extending over a decade are pretty common.

Do such delays justify automatic commutation of death sentence into life imprisonment? Those who agree with this proposition argue that such inordinate delays are by themselves a cruel punishment and that the accused should not be subjected to another cruel punishment in the form of death by hanging. There is a logical flaw in this argument. The accused plead for mercy because they prefer to live as long as possible. When there is delay in response to their petition, they turn around and claim that not effecting the death sentence in time, that is allowing them to live longer, is a cruel punishment. This is a typical case of eating the cake and having it too.

Attributing cruelty to delayed response of the executive amounts to ignoring the cruelty suffered by the victims' families. 

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