A society has both good and evil people. Evil people commit crimes and disturb the peaceful environment. Punishment is a method which can stops all kind of offences from society. For different kind of offences there are different kinds of punishment which can provide the peace, security and equality to society. According to section 53 of Indian Penal Code, there are 5 kinds of punishment:
- Death -Death penalty is also known as capital punishment.
- Imprisonment for life
- Imprisonment
- Simple
- Rigours
- Forfeiture of property
- Fine
India is country with large diversity in respect of religion, culture, cuisine and many more areas but, it also has huge numbers of violations and crooks. From above it is clear that capital punishment is only given in ‘Rare of the Rarest’ cases in India. According to article 21 of Indian Constitution, everybody has ‘Right to Life’, like ‘No individual will be denied of his life or individual freedom besides as per technique set up by law’[1].
Recent execution of death sentence in India was in 2020 in which four accused of 2012 Delhi gang rape case were hanged together on 20 march 2020, and it was for the first time after independence that four accused were hanged together on same platform[2]. Before this execution Yakub Memon was hanged on 30 July 2015. He was terrorist convicted of 1993 Mumbai blasts. In 2013 on 9th February a Kashmiri terrorist Afzal Guru was hanged till death. Ajmal Kasab, who was mastermind of 2008 Mumbai attack was executed on 12 November 2008 and many more such execution has taken place in India[3].
If we see in last 21 years 8 people in India were hanged to death for different offences. It clearly shows that India has adopted this serious punishment that is capital punishments only in rare of the rarest cases. In mean while many countries around the world has abolished the capital punishment which is also knowns as death penalty.
As per the Death Penalty Information Centre, over 70% countries all over the world has abolished capital punishment in law or practice[4]. According to Amnesty International, at the end of 2020 almost:
- 108 countries all over the world abolished capital punishment in law for all forms of offences;
- 144 countries abolished it in both law as well as practice:
- 28 countries effectively abolished this punishment by not executing it from last 10 years
- And 55 countries still retain this punishment for ordinary offences.
Amnesty International further added that there was 1,477 death sentence in 54 countries all over the world and majority of these execution took place in countries like Iran. Saudi Arabia, China, Iraq and Egypt[5].
In last 20 year counties like Turkey, Albania, Philippines, Bhutan, Armenia, Congo, Guinea, Chad, Burkina Faso, Gobon, Latvia, Bolivia and many more have abolished the punishment of death penalty. Among them Burkina Faso abolished the penalty in year 2018. Recently in the year 2020 country named Chad has abolished the death punishments for all the crimes in law as well as practice[6].
Which of counties which still have and which has abolished this serious punishment has huge list, but among them some of them are mentioned in the table below:
| COUNTRIES STILL HAVE CAPTAL PUNISHMENT | COUNTRIES ABOLISHED CAPITAL PUNISHMENT |
| 1. China | 1. Portugal |
| 2. India | 2. Denmark |
| 3. Iran | 3. Netherland |
| 4. Iraq | 4. France |
| 5. Japan | 5. Australia |
| 6. United States | 6. Belgium |
| 7. South Korea | 7. Turkey |
| 8. Bangladesh | 8. Bhutan |
| 9. Sri Lanka | 9. Guinea |
| 10. Egypt | 10. Albania |
Conclusion:
According to article 21 of Indian Constitution, everybody has ‘Right to Life’, like ‘No individual will be denied of his life or individual freedom besides as per technique set up by the law. In last 20 year counties like Turkey, Albania, Philippines, Bhutan, Armenia, Congo, Guinea, Chad, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Latvia, Bolivia and many more have abolished the punishment of death penalty. In last 21 years 8 people in India were hanged to death for different offences. It clearly shows that India has adopted this serious punishment that is capital punishments only in rare of the rarest cases.
[1] Rajat Singh, “A Comparative study on capital punishment in India”, https://hedailyguardian-com.cdn.amproject.org/v/sthedailyguardian.com/a-comparative-study-on-capital-punishment-in-india/? (Last Modified 03/01/2022).
[2] Taran Deol, “‘Rarest of rare’- history of death penalty in India and crimes that call for hanging”, https://theprint-in.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/theprint.in/theprint-essential/rarest-of-rare-history-of-death-penalty-in-india-and-crimes-that-call-for-hamging/383658/? (Last Modified 19/03/2020).
[3] “16 convicts hanged to death in India since 1991”, https://www-indiatoday-in.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/story/16-convicts-hanged-to-death-india-since-1991-1634925-2020-01-08? (Last Modified 08/01/2020).
[4] “Countries with Death Penalty 2021”, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-death-penalty (Visited on 19/01/2022).
[5]“Death Penalty in 2020: Facts and Figures”, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/04/death-penalty-in-2020-facts-and-figures/ (Last Modified 21/04/2021).
[6] “Countries That Have Abolished the Death Penalty Since 1976”, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/international (Visited on 19/01/2022).
By – Nidhi Kumari
