No plan to review laws on death sentence: Chidambaram
May 9th, 2012 - 3:11 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, May 9 (IANS) There were no plans to review laws on death sentence, Home Minister P. Chidambaram clarified Wednesday and said the present government had disposed of a large number of mercy petitions.
Replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram said there were different views pertaining to capital punishment, but none of the commissions were in favour of abolishing the death sentence.
“There are two views on death sentence, some countries have totally abolished it, some countries have kept it for certain cases… In India, death sentence is awarded in rarest of rare cases,” Chidambaram said.
“None of the reports have favoured abolition of death sentence,” he said, adding that the government was presently not taking any view on whether or not the time had come to reconsider abolishing death sentence.
The minister also added that there are windows for those awarded death sentence through the mercy petition, which either the state governor or the president can consider.
“In the last three-and-a-half years we have disposed of 16 mercy petitions,” Chidambaram said, adding that the procedure was faster than before.
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- For Kasab, it's now a question of when - Aug 30, 2012
- Bhullar plea: Jurists divided on abolishing death penalty - Nov 20, 2011
- Death sentence is judicial murder, says judge in Rajiv killing - Oct 16, 2011
- President rejects mercy plea of Khalistan terrorist on death row (Second Lead) - May 27, 2011
- Supreme Court asks for mercy plea details - Nov 15, 2011
- Apex court calls for files of 18 mercy pleas (Lead) - Apr 03, 2012
- Apex court seeks details of mercy pleas decided in 2011 (Lead) - Apr 10, 2012
- Apex court asks states for details of pending mercy pleas - Feb 22, 2012
- Apex court seeks time frame for deciding mercy pleas - Apr 19, 2012
- Hanging of Rajiv killers stayed, Tamil Nadu assembly backs them - Aug 30, 2011
- Afzal Guru's mercy petition not yet sent to president - Feb 23, 2011
- Mercy plea of Khalistan terrorist on death row rejected (Lead) - May 26, 2011
Tags: abolition, capital punishment, commissions, death sentence, favour, half years, home minister, India, mercy petition, mercy petitions, New Delhi, p chidambaram, present government, rajya sabha, rare cases, state governor