“Society stands convicted with every criminal in dock.”1
Indeed, a discourse regarding expedition of human being towards orderly, law abiding citizen would be futile if one overlooks the reciprocal responsibility of society towards every individual. No matter how deliberately one may assert that man is a social animal2, this mere animal existence of mankind requires right to live with human dignity.3Perhaps this notion warrants all other legal norms to be streamlined on the constitutional spirit. Furthermore, in legal arena, crime and punishment bears a deliberate relationship. Earlier is followed by the later as a quintessential result. Public opinion may vary about the forms of the punishments, however, the basic principle of criminal law i.e. ‘Actus non facet ream, nisi mens sit rea’4 warrants the presence of guilty mind to drag any individual into the purview of legal liability. Moreover, when it comes to the offences punished with the death penalty, the guilt factor remains sine-qua-non for the fixing of such liability. As any law which contravenes
the Part III of the Constitution becomes void,5 the issue of death penalty requires to be measured on the yardstick of the Constitution of India.
This paper, with a view to examine the viability of the death penalty, attempts to explore the Constitutional as well as remaining legal framework of India. It also craves to explore the very rationale of the stand taken by India over the death penalty in the light of Constitutional perspective.
