The continuing distribution of the death penalty
Source: The Hindu
For Prelims:
- Death Penalty in India: Understanding the use of the death penalty in India, which has persisted despite global trends towards abolition.
- Aparajita Woman and Child Bill, 2024: The West Bengal government introduced this bill, proposing the death penalty for rape.
- Amnesty International Report (2023): Nearly 75% of countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, but India remains a retentionist nation along with countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
- Justice Verma Committee Recommendations: The Committee argued that the death penalty does not act as an effective deterrent against sexual offenses such as gang rape.
- Project39A Report: In 2023, India recorded 120 death sentences, with 561 people on death row, marking a steady rise since 2019.
For Mains:
GS II: Polity and Governance – Criminal Justice System
- India’s Death Penalty Trends: Despite global moves towards abolishing the death penalty, India has seen an increase in the number of death sentences. The article discusses the procedural flaws and societal biases in its application.
- Challenges of Gender-Based Violence (GBV): Sexual violence, particularly against women and children, remains a significant societal issue. The article highlights how patriarchal norms contribute to the demand for harsher punishments like the death penalty without addressing root causes.
- Intersectionality in Criminal Justice: The need for intersectional understanding of caste, class, and religious biases in India's criminal justice system and its disproportionate impact on marginalized communities.
Highlights of the Article:
- Death Penalty's Persistence: The article reflects on how the death penalty in India continues to be used despite concerns over its efficacy in deterring crime, particularly sexual violence.
- Aparajita Woman and Child Bill, 2024: Passed by the West Bengal government in response to a brutal rape and murder case, the bill proposes the death penalty for rape, reigniting debates over capital punishment.
- Global and National Context: While most countries have moved away from capital punishment, India remains a retentionist nation with a growing death row population, as per the Project39A report.
- VAWC (Violence Against Women and Children): The article discusses societal responses to sexual violence, including calls for the death penalty, and how this approach neglects deeper social and cultural issues driving violence.
- The Justice Verma Committee's Stance: Despite recommendations against the death penalty for sexual offenses, India has moved towards a more punitive regime, increasing the number of crimes punishable by death.
Context: This article offers a critical analysis of the death penalty in India, particularly in the context of gender-based violence. It questions the effectiveness of punitive measures like capital punishment and calls for a deeper understanding of societal and structural issues that contribute to violence. The article argues for victim-centered reforms and an abolitionist approach to criminal justice, highlighting the need for systemic change rather than relying on punishment alone
UPSC EXAM NOTES ANALYSIS
1.Death Sentence
The death sentence or capital punishment is the legal imposition of the death penalty on a person convicted of a serious crime, often referred to as a capital offense. It is the most severe form of punishment sanctioned by law. In India, the death penalty is reserved for the "rarest of rare" cases, a principle laid down by the judiciary to ensure its use is limited to heinous crimes
Crimes Punishable by Death in India:
- Murder with aggravating factors.
- Terrorism-related offenses.
- Rape resulting in death or repeated sexual offenses (after recent legal amendments).
- Treason or waging war against the state
2. Indian Scenario
- The death penalty in India has remained persistent, resurfacing in various forms over time. The latest example of this is the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024, introduced by the West Bengal government following the tragic rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.
- This bill proposes amendments to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, specific to West Bengal, and includes provisions for the death penalty in cases of rape.
- Though the bill was passed unanimously by the West Bengal Assembly, the State Governor raised concerns and has referred it to President Droupadi Murmu for further consideration.
- In August alone, there were several similar incidents across other states, with many of the survivors being Dalit or Adivasi women and children. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, in 2022, there were 31,516 recorded cases of rape in India—approximately four every hour—and 248 cases of murder involving rape or gang rape.
- The states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh had the highest number of reported rapes, with 5,399, 3,690, and 3,029 cases, respectivel
3. Global Scenario
- According to global data from Amnesty International, by the end of 2023, almost three-quarters of the world's countries had either abolished the death penalty in law or no longer practiced it. Specifically, 112 nations had fully abolished capital punishment for all crimes, and 144 countries had eliminated it either in law or practice.
- However, 55 countries still retained the death penalty in both law and practice. In South Asia, Bhutan and Nepal have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, while the Maldives and Sri Lanka no longer carry out executions. India, along with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, continues to retain the death penalty.
- Data from Project39A shows that in 2023, India recorded 120 death sentences, though no executions were carried out. This figure is a decline from 167 sentences in 2022.
- By the end of 2023, 561 people were on death row in India, continuing an upward trend since 2019 when the count was 378. This represents the highest death row population in a single year in approximately two decades.
- Many of those on death row spend years awaiting execution, with some eventually being exonerated. These prisoners often suffer from severe physical, psychological, and mental health issues, and receive no compensation from the state.
- This situation points to significant procedural issues, potentially influenced by biases related to caste, class, and religion within India's criminal justice system.
- Some prisoners even resort to suicide, highlighting the inhumane conditions they endure, including overcrowded prisons.
- The majority of undertrials in India come from marginalized communities and make up about three-quarters of the incarcerated population
4.Society response and Challenges
- The adoption of "decolonisation language" in the creation of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), replacing the Indian Penal Code, has introduced some positive reforms but has also increased the number of crimes punishable by death from 12 to 18.
- India has shifted toward a more punitive approach to sexual offenses, although this has not significantly improved women’s safety or empowerment.
- In 2023, sessions courts primarily awarded death sentences in cases of murder related to sexual offenses, with 64 such cases recorded.
- Public anger following sexual violence, especially when the victim is killed, often leads to calls for capital punishment, with offenders being labeled as monsters, which supports the demand for extreme retribution.
- This kind of rhetoric creates a sense of "otherness," positioning the accused as separate from society, and justifying their death as a form of vengeance. This notion appears to be rooted in India's cultural and religious traditions that glorify the destruction of evil figures.
- Such demands for justice frequently focus on family, community, and national honor, sidelining the victim’s agency.
- Meanwhile, there is a societal and legal tolerance for everyday violence against women and children (VAWC), perpetrated both publicly by strangers and privately by family members. Alarmingly, searches for videos of victims of such violence continue to trend online.
- The Justice Verma Committee argued that the death penalty is not an effective deterrent against crimes like gang rape. However, the Union Cabinet did not act on these recommendations.
- If the death penalty does not achieve its intended goal, there needs to be a shift in how sexual violence is addressed by moving toward abolitionist feminism. This approach should focus on educating the public about human rights, particularly in communities where cultural and religious beliefs shape opinions on the death penalty.
- An abolitionist feminist movement should not only reject the death penalty but also challenge life imprisonment without parole for sexual violence cases, and should seek to address the deeper social and cultural causes of VAWC.
- Additionally, there must be efforts to tackle structural issues like wealth and land redistribution, along with ensuring that marginalized communities are represented in both public and private institutions.
- A major shift toward well-funded public education and healthcare is also necessary. Governments and society should provide targeted support to survivors of sexual violence, helping them access education, employment, and healthcare. Support should also extend to the families of survivors, especially young siblings, to ensure their access to resources and a sense of dignity, as enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
- To truly address these issues, victim-centered procedural and institutional reforms are required, alongside initiatives like "beta padhao, beti bachao" (educate the son to protect the daughter), aimed at eliminating the patriarchal notion that a woman's body and virginity define family and national honor.
- Failing to address these underlying problems will make the abolition movement seem superficial and disconnected from broader societal needs. The death penalty often serves as an easy solution that absolves the state of responsibility for reforming key institutions like the police, judiciary, and prosecution, as well as for providing support to survivors.
- Evidence-based policymaking, driven by existing research, must be incorporated at the central and state levels to avoid reactive and unjust outcomes. Additionally, research should investigate whether the socio-religious background of judges plays a role in their decisions to impose the death penalty.
- India is once again pushing for social reform through changes in its legal framework. While this is necessary to provide care, safety, and support for rape survivors and their families, it is equally important to scrutinize how legal structures related to contracts, family, labor, and property laws shape the socio-economic status of women and children, especially those from oppressed or marginalized communities. These laws often exacerbate inequalities in wealth, power, and knowledge.
- Abolishing the death penalty and creating a safer environment for women and children are complex, intertwined challenges. They demand critical engagement with the law, alongside public conversations about caste, religion, and gender-based violence through an intersectional lens. Feminists have long argued that sexual violence is more about power than about sex, and this understanding must guide future reforms.
5. Conclusion
Public and judicial awareness campaigns are essential to dispel the myth that the death penalty reduces VAWC and to promote gender equality both in the private (family) and public spheres. Relying solely on punishment will not bring about the societal change that is needed
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Mains Practice Questions
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