Daily Times

A renowned Indian politician Shashi Tharoor, introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha for the abolishment of the death penalty in India for all crimes. The bill opined that death penalty is not a solution or deterrence to crimes. Until today no one from Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) has commented on mentioned bill. In his Bill, Tharoor stated that the Indian Penal Code shall be amended and when it is possible the death penalty must be replaced with life imprisonment.

The timing of the Bill is crucial since just last week the Parliament introduced death penalty for those who engaged in sexual activities which children under the age of twelve. The anti-capital punishment Bill is not the first of its kind to be brought to the Parliament. The India Law Commission (ILC) has already recommended that the death penalty should only be used in terrorism related cases and it must be abolished for other offences. Moreover International Law prohibits capital punishment being used on juveniles, despite the nature of their crime.

The India Law Commission has already recommended that the death penalty only be used in terrorism related cases and be abolished for all other offences. Moreover, International Law prohibits awarding capital punishment to juveniles, regardless of the nature of their crime

However despite such strict restrictions, countries such as Iran have executed juveniles on numerous occasions in clear violation of these laws. In Pakistan juveniles are on death row and there is no data available that figures the exact number of juveniles on death row and those incarcerated.

In my opinion having such discussions in the Indian Parliament is fruitful for the diversity of opinion, and the democratic process. However Pakistan and Bangladesh are two countries where this practice is common and the number of executions per year are cringe worthy. Sadly- in Pakistan the question of capital punishment has never been discussed or been open to change on a national level. Even though the death penalty was abolished in 2008- it was brought back in 2014. Moreover lower courts in Pakistan award a remarkably high number of death penalties, a fraction of those are actually approved by the High Court.

The writer is an attorney based in Lahore, he can be reached at greenlaw123@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, August 30^th 2018.