The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern over the repeated commutation of death sentences, with Justice Dipankar Datta observing that excessive leniency towards convicted offenders was contributing to the country’s crime problem and that a limit needed to be drawn.
A bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu made the oral observations while hearing a petition seeking premature release of a life convict whose death sentence had earlier been commuted to life imprisonment in a murder case.
Justice Datta referred to the approach adopted in murder cases under the ‘rarest of rare’ doctrine and observed that circumstances had changed over time. He questioned whether the repeated exercise of judicial forgiveness was appropriate in cases involving serious offences.
The judge remarked that India’s problems were partly the result of a tendency to repeatedly forgive offenders, adding that such leniency could not continue indefinitely.
Justice Datta Recalls Case Involving Murders of Two Family Members
To illustrate his concern, Justice Datta referred to a case involving a man who had raped and murdered his elder daughter and was sentenced to life imprisonment on the basis of his wife’s testimony.
The man subsequently obtained parole after spending several years in prison and murdered his wife in the presence of their younger daughter.
Following the younger daughter’s testimony, he was awarded the death sentence for the second murder. However, the Supreme Court later commuted the punishment to life imprisonment on the ground that he had not killed the younger child.
Referring to that decision, Justice Datta questioned the extent to which courts should continue showing leniency in cases involving grave crimes.
He reiterated that there must be a point at which the judiciary draws a line on granting such relief.
The observations came during the hearing of the premature release petition. The report did not specify any final decision on the convict’s request.
