Halt all hangings

Mahatma Gandhi's India cannot afford to lag behind other countries in abolishing capital punishment.

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Halt all hangings: "Abolitionists around the world argue against the death penalty mainly for two reasons: it has not been proved to be a deterrent and a flawed judicial process can wrongly, and irrevocably, send a person to his death. But over and above these reasoned considerations is the sheer barbarity of taking a human life even under the due process of law. Besides, there is no humane way of executing the death sentence. Death by hanging — the preferred method in India — is unspeakably cruel."

Balwant Singh Rajoana admitted his part in the suicide bombing of Punjab CM Beant Singh, rejected counsel, and accepted the death penalty, arguing that he would not ask for mercy from a government that called him a terrorist but was unconscionably insensitive towards the victims of state-sponsored communal pogroms. He must live if only for the state to demolish his belief that it is a “monster” ready to turn on its own people.

India is yet to abolish capital punishment even as 96 countries around the world have done away with the practice with another 34 countries observing unofficial moratoria on executions.

Say NO to death for drugs

"Handing down capital punishment for an offence that does not take life is draconian and violates all international human rights standards."

India has a long history of opium and cannabis use, especially in medicinal, spiritual and social contexts. Serving opium is an age-old tradition in many parts of the country that marks respect for guests. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Say NO to death for drugs: Yet, this social propriety turned into legal impropriety with the enactment of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) in 1985, in order to comply with international agreements.

The NDPS Act prohibits cultivation, production, manufacture, possession, sale, purchase, transport, import, export, use and consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, except for medical and scientific reasons, under license.


The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has held that drug trafficking is not the “most serious crime” under international law. In 1997, the UNHRC asked India to “limit the number of offences carrying the death penalty to the most serious crimes, with a view to its ultimate abolition”. Significantly, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the agency that oversees drug control measures globally has denounced capital punishment as a means to contain illicit trafficking and called upon Member States to abolish the death penalty for drug-related offences.

India has consistently ignored these opinions.Parliament is presently reviewing amendments to the NDPS Act. Will the rhetoric of ‘tough on drugs' prevail once again?

Death sentences haphazardly meted out, says Connecticut study

"It found that inmates on death row are indistinguishable from equally violent offenders who escape that penalty."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Death sentences haphazardly meted out, says Connecticut study