New Delhi: A private member resolution was on Friday moved in the Rajya Sabha seeking abolition of capital punishment and an imposition of moratorium on all death sentences till the necessary amendments are made to the existing laws.
"The time has come for India to say emphatic "no" to capital punishment by making amendments to various laws, which have provision for death penalty so as to abolish capital punishment in the country. Till that time, impose moratorium on execution of death sentences," said D Raja of CPI while moving the resolution.
The resolution should not be linked to any particular case as the issue is related to confronting the humanity, he said, adding, "I am not making it as an ideological issue at this point of time. It is more than that."
Asserting that India should take a stand on this issue, Raja said the majority of the UN members have voted in support of the UN General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium on death penalty and India is among the minority of member countries still voting against the resolution.
About 120 countries have abolished capital punishment and few of them have stopped the practice of execution, he added. "The situation now has fast changed. The world is moving towards jurisprudence based on humanism and correction of individuals committing crimes. But we are still lagging behind. We are still stick on to the colonial laws. We need to change our mindset," Raja noted.
Stating that crimes have socio-economic factors, Raja said, "The issue should not be looked at from just legal and technical point of view. It should be looked at psychological, sociological and political angle."
Quoting a study by students of Delhi-based National Law University, Raja said the research shows that there are caste and religious biases in the imposition of death penalty in India, indicating that 94 per cent of the persons given death sentences for terror related cases belonged to Dalit caste or religious minorities.
Even the Supreme Court has admitted to "errors and miscarriage of justice due to arbitrary application of death penalty" and the Law Commission Chairman Justice A P Shah has also said that there is "serious need to re-examine" the issue of death penalty.
Raja said this resolution was earlier submitted to the Upper House in July 2015 but it was not taken up due to various reasons. Even his party colleague late C K Chandrappan had moved a private member bill on this issue way back in 2004.
Speaking on the matter, BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy said the resolution moved by Raja should be rejected. He said except for some "crazy, liberal" countries in
Europe, most nations including US, Russia and Arab countries have capital punishment.
Taking a dig at Raja, he said the Left leader could not pursue with China, with which his party has "fraternal relations", the move to end capital punishment but was looking at introducing it here in India.
He said the Supreme Court has ruled that capital punishment is constitutional.
Swamy also said that Congress is confused about capital punishment because even though they hanged Afzal Guru, they want to pardon the killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
He said the debate on the resolution was "futile" and that it was fashionable and part of the international NGOs' push to abolish capital punishment.
NCP leader Majeeb Memom supported Raja in calling for abolition of capital punishment. While Congress leader E M Sudarsana Natchiappan wanted capital punishment for honour killings alone, another leader Shantaram Naik wanted death penalty in terror cases.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju could not give his reply as the time had elapsed. The resolution will now be taken up on the next working day.
Meanwhile, Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the House that Swamy had authenticated and submitted to Rajya Sabha all Italian court documents that he had read from yesterday.
Deputy Chairman P J Kurien had earlier in the day ruled that Swamy will authenticate documents by 6 PM and if not all his quotes will be deleted.
