GS Mains Model Question & Answer: The Law Commission of India recommended scrapping of the death penalty for all crimes except terrorism-related offences and those that amount to waging war against the state. Give your arguments.
Q. The Law Commission of India recommended scrapping of the death penalty for all crimes except terrorism-related offences and those that amount to waging war against the state. Give your arguments. (12.5 Marks)
(General Studies Mains Paper II- Polity : Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies)
Model Answer :
The Law Commission of India has recommended, for a start, the scrapping of the death penalty for all crimes except terrorism-related offences and those that amount to waging war against the state. The Law Commission comprises a Chairman, three full-time members, two ex-officio members who represent the government, and three part-time members.
The Commission’s report makes a clean break with the ‘rarest of the rare’ principle that was laid down in Bachan Singh vs State of Punjab (1980): that judgment noted that the application of the death penalty would remain arbitrary and judge-centric and hence would be constitutionally unsustainable.