SHOULD CAPITAL PUNISHMNET BE GIVEN CAPITAL PUNISHMENT? - A CAPITAL QUESTION*
*Published in I DLR (S) (2004), pp. 248-267. (Annual publication of Faculty of Law, University of Delhi) “Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.” : V. R. Krishna Iyer, J. [1] “… the humanistic approach should not obscure our sense of realities. When a man commits a crime against society by committing a diabolical, cold-blooded, pre-planned murder of one innocent person the brutality of which shocks the conscience of the court, he must face the consequence of his act. Such a person forfeits his right to life.” : A. P. Sen, J. [2] 1. Introduction Whether to retain or to abolish the sentence of capital punishment has been a universal subject of endless debate, countless studies, several researches and plenty of experiments but no conclusion has been reached yet which can socially, morally and legally be accepted. Almost all states have two groups –one who supports the retention of capital punishment and other who argues to abolish it. In India, the debate was revived...