There are many countries in the world which have abolished capital punishment from their judicial system and many Indians are also demanding the same but we still have a provision of capital punishment. And it seems that India is in no mood to abolish capital punishment as it made its stand clear when it denied the request of worldwide moratorium on capital punishment made by UN in 2007. The Article 21 of Indian Constitution says, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”
However, the Indian Judiciary has ensured that the capital punishment should be given in the rarest of rare crimes and just recently, Supreme Court upheld the decision of death sentence of four convicts in the Nirbhaya case. On December 16, 2012, a girl was raped by 6 men in a moving bus; they not only raped her brutally but also assaulted her in an inhumane manner and threw her on the road after she was unconscious.
This incident shook the entire society as it was something which couldn’t be done by human beings; it was definitely a work of devils. After the horrifying incident, people started protesting on roads, demanding justice; however, the victim lost her battle of life.
The court considered it as the rarest of rare crime and sentenced death penalty for 4 convicts, 1 convict died during the trial while one was juvenile and had been released.
However, you will be shocked to know that in the last 17 years, more than 1400 convicts have been given capital punishment but only 4 of them have actually been hanged till death.
Let us know about those 4 who have been hanged:
Dhananjoy Chatterjee:
A security guard by profession, he raped and murdered a girl of 14 yrs, Hetal Parekh, who lived in the same apartment where he used to guard. He was hanged on August 14, 2004, at Alipore Central Jail, Kolkata.
Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab:
He was a Pakistani national and member of the team which carried out horrific 26/11 attacks, killing hundreds of innocent people. He was hanged on November 21, 2012, at Yerwada Jail, Pune.
Afzal Guru:
He was called the mastermind of Indian Parliament attacks of December 13, 2001, in which 8 security officers and a gardener died. He was hanged secretly at Tihar jail, Delhi, on February 9, 2013.
Yakub Memon:
He was held guilty of sponsoring Mumbai blasts of 1993 which were planned by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Yakub’s brother, Tiger Memon. In these blasts, 257 people lost their lives. He was hanged on July 30, 2015, at Central Jail, Nagpur.
The four convicts of Nirbhaya case still have an option of appealing mercy from the President of India, and it is still unclear when they will be hanged to death or not! What is your opinion in this connection? Share your views in the comments section below.
