- INTRODUCTION
“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.
FADING THREADS OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN INDIA: ACONSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
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