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29 Nov 2018 11:00am

Justice Kurian Joseph Revives Debate over Death Penalty

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Justice Kurian Joseph all set to retire today, revived debate over capital punishment while converting a death sentence to life imprisonment for a man convicted of three murders, on Wednesday.

In his judgment in the case of Chhannu Lal Verma v. State of Chhattisgarh, wherein the accused killed a couple and their daughter-in-law, who had previously accused Verma of rape leading him to serve one-year prison sentence prior to acquittal, Justice Kurian Joseph opined:

Time has come where we view the need for death penalty as a punishment, especially its purpose and practice.”

Justice Joseph referring to 262nd Law Commission’s report stated that death penalty has failed to prove a deterrent for crimes in the society.

The other two judges on the SC bench, Justices Deepak Gupta and Hemant Gupta, concurred with the judgment of Justice Joseph with regard to the commutation of death penalty of convict Chhannu Lal Verma to life imprisonment.

However, the two judges dissented Justice Joseph opinion concerning doing away with the death penalty altogether.

We have had the privilege of going through the erudite judgment delivered by our learned brother Justice Kurian Joseph. We are in full agreement with all that is stated in the judgment except the following observations in Para 23”, Justices Deepak Gupta and Hemant Gupta wrote before setting out para 23 of the judgment of Joseph J which speaks about reconsidering death penalty in the statute book.

 


Tagged: Death Penalty Capital Punishment Justice Kurian Joseph Justice Deepak Gupta Justice Hemant Gupta Supreme Court
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