LAW COMMISSION ORGANISES SEMINAR
ON "MODE OF
EXECUTION OF DEATH SENTENCE"
GOVERNMENT
TO TAKE A QUICK VIEW ON THE ISSUE AFTER
GETTING THE RESULTS OF THE DEBATE – SHRI ARUN JAITLEY
The Minister of Law & Justice
and Commerce & Industry, Shri Arun Jaitley, has said that
there should be a national debate on the mode of execution of
death sentence. He said that there was an opinion that the hanging
process did not ensure instant death. He reiterated the need for
a consensus on an acceptable civilised mode of execution of death
sentence. The Law Minister assured that the Government would take
a quick view on the issue after getting the results of the debate.
Shri Jaitley
was inaugurating a seminar on the "Mode of Execution of Death
Sentence" organised by the Law Commission of India here today.
Complimenting the Law Commission on its initiative, the Minister
said that the Law Commission had been providing objective advice
on several issues which enabled the Government to effect changes
in several laws so that the system did not become anachronistic.
Presiding over
the seminar, Shri Justice M. Jagannadha Rao, Chairman, Law Commission
of India, initiated the debate. He gave a historical background
of various modes of execution of death sentence.
Shri N.M. Ghatate,
Member, Law Commission, made a presentation on the issue and the
result of the survey the Commission undertook. According to the
survey, 89 per cent of respondents preferred amendment to the
section 354 (5) of Cr. P.C., which provides for hanging. However,
51 per cent of those who preferred hanging as the mode of execution
of death sentence preferred public hanging and the remaining 49
per cent in jail. Among those who considered death by hanging
cruel, 73 per cent preferred lethal injection, 10 per cent electric
chair, Five per cent shooting by firing squad and 12 per cent
any other mode of execution. While 83 per cent of respondents
wanted the accused to be given a right of appeal to the Supreme
Court, 99 per cent wanted the decision on death sentence to be
made by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court.
