death penalty
The death penalty (capital punishment) is the first punishment listed in s.4 BNS (old s.53 IPC). It is available for offences such as murder, certain forms of rape, waging war against the Government of India and terrorist acts. For murder it is an alternative to life imprisonment, and life is the rule.
In Bachan Singh the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality but confined it to the “rarest of rare” cases, where the alternative of life imprisonment is unquestionably foreclosed, after weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances of both crime and criminal. The court must record special reasons (s.393(3) BNSS, old s.354(3) CrPC), and a sentence of death needs confirmation by the High Court. The President (Article 72) and Governor (Article 161) may pardon or commute.
Example
Applying Bachan Singh, the court refused the death penalty because the accused's youth and lack of antecedents showed a real chance of reform.
In Indian law
- Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, 1980 INSC 120
- Section 393(3) BNSS (old s.354(3) CrPC): special reasons for a sentence of death
- Articles 72 and 161, Constitution of India: pardon and commutation
See also
Read more in the study notes
- Definitions, classification of offences, and the courts, prosecution and police under the BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Concurrent and consecutive sentences; appeals, revision and reference (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Judgment: pronouncement, contents and orders after conviction (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Execution, suspension, remission and commutation of sentences; mercy petitions (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Juvenile Justice Act, 2015: salient features and the Juvenile Justice Board (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Juvenile Justice Act: procedure for children in conflict with law (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)