Before we take a look at the contention of the activists, systemic failure and international groups and treaties on the question of capital punishment, we need to look at a specific contention that is going around now.
In about an hour or so from now, the Supreme Court will take up the issue of the death sentence imposed on the four Veerappan gang murderers in the landmine blast case which killed 22 people.
While there are many more points of contention to look into as per my own classification of the arguments, there is one which stands out and which is being chiefly used today to try and overturn the death sentence on the killers.
We have to admit to one thing. These lawyer/activists are *not* one-trick-ponies. They keep coming out with various contentions and arguments, which sound legitimate. The issue of delay in disposing of Mercy Petition by the President of India is the latest.
The hullabaloo created by these people has reached such a crest that several legal luminaires have been snared into accepting or at least considering the argument.
The point that delay in disposing off Mercy Petition was a ground for commutation of sentence and contend that that this delay rendered the death penalty imposed on them illegal and unconstitutional.
This is presumably because of the uncertainty over their fate imposes enough mental strain and that it is equal to killing them every day. This sounds very logical, but is the most absurd contention I have heard.
First, philosophically speaking, everyone of us - man, woman, child, animal or plant - is certain to die one day. The only uncertainty is when! The convicts, thus, aren’t being put into any more torturous condition that any normal human.
Second, legally, there is nothing uncertain about their fate. They have been sentenced to death. They have to be hung by the neck when it is suitable and convenient as decided by the courts.
Third, it is a matter of fact that they live in a false sense of hope and belief, after their conviction and before the disposal of their clemency plea. So all these days, they’ve been living in hope, not in fear. Do these people want us to believe that a normal human being can live healthy, without sickness, if he or she is threatened with death every waking moment.
I’ve seen people lose weight when anxious and procrastinating to undergo, or afterwards, waiting for the results of their PAP smear or Typhoid culture or oncology tests. That is only a matter of few days.
OTOH, these guys have been in prison and if they’ve been subject to such anxiety, really, the hangmen would be without a job.
:-P
Fourth, judicially, the contention is an extension or a by-product of the concept of statute of limitations. That people who have committed undiscovered crime, constantly live in fear of such crimes being discovered, and after a certain period of time, the fear, stress, anxiety itself is enough punishment for the crime. So even if the crime is discovered after a certain specified period, the criminal cannot be / is not prosecuted.
The problem is India has a statute of limitations only on Claims - property, contracts and the like. (AFAIK).
Even if there is one, statute of limitations do not cover heinous crimes like murder - the so called capital crimes. No amount of fear, anxiety, stress, regret or repent felt by a murder is considered equivalent to the criminality of murder itself and prosecution is possible on discovery.
So that blows the present contention out of water. Murder is not covered under statute of limitations and hence delay in disposal of mercy pleas *cannot* be a cause for commutation of sentence.
A look at the rest of the contentions to follow in the last part.
In about an hour or so from now, the Supreme Court will take up the issue of the death sentence imposed on the four Veerappan gang murderers in the landmine blast case which killed 22 people.
While there are many more points of contention to look into as per my own classification of the arguments, there is one which stands out and which is being chiefly used today to try and overturn the death sentence on the killers.
We have to admit to one thing. These lawyer/activists are *not* one-trick-ponies. They keep coming out with various contentions and arguments, which sound legitimate. The issue of delay in disposing of Mercy Petition by the President of India is the latest.
The hullabaloo created by these people has reached such a crest that several legal luminaires have been snared into accepting or at least considering the argument.
The point that delay in disposing off Mercy Petition was a ground for commutation of sentence and contend that that this delay rendered the death penalty imposed on them illegal and unconstitutional.
This is presumably because of the uncertainty over their fate imposes enough mental strain and that it is equal to killing them every day. This sounds very logical, but is the most absurd contention I have heard.
First, philosophically speaking, everyone of us - man, woman, child, animal or plant - is certain to die one day. The only uncertainty is when! The convicts, thus, aren’t being put into any more torturous condition that any normal human.
Second, legally, there is nothing uncertain about their fate. They have been sentenced to death. They have to be hung by the neck when it is suitable and convenient as decided by the courts.
Third, it is a matter of fact that they live in a false sense of hope and belief, after their conviction and before the disposal of their clemency plea. So all these days, they’ve been living in hope, not in fear. Do these people want us to believe that a normal human being can live healthy, without sickness, if he or she is threatened with death every waking moment.
I’ve seen people lose weight when anxious and procrastinating to undergo, or afterwards, waiting for the results of their PAP smear or Typhoid culture or oncology tests. That is only a matter of few days.
OTOH, these guys have been in prison and if they’ve been subject to such anxiety, really, the hangmen would be without a job.
:-P
Fourth, judicially, the contention is an extension or a by-product of the concept of statute of limitations. That people who have committed undiscovered crime, constantly live in fear of such crimes being discovered, and after a certain period of time, the fear, stress, anxiety itself is enough punishment for the crime. So even if the crime is discovered after a certain specified period, the criminal cannot be / is not prosecuted.
The problem is India has a statute of limitations only on Claims - property, contracts and the like. (AFAIK).
Even if there is one, statute of limitations do not cover heinous crimes like murder - the so called capital crimes. No amount of fear, anxiety, stress, regret or repent felt by a murder is considered equivalent to the criminality of murder itself and prosecution is possible on discovery.
So that blows the present contention out of water. Murder is not covered under statute of limitations and hence delay in disposal of mercy pleas *cannot* be a cause for commutation of sentence.
A look at the rest of the contentions to follow in the last part.
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