Arbitrary death sentencing is the rule not the exception in Indian courts

Following the uproar and the widespread protests after the August 2024 rape and murder of a medical professional in Kolkata’s RG Kar hospital, there were demands for death penalty for the accused. The state government passed the Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024 (awaiting presidential assent), that included mandatory death sentence for rape which results in death of the victim or if the victim is left in a vegetative state, despite such a mandatory sentence being unconstitutional.

On January 20, the Sealdah sessions court pronounced a life term for the convict, Sanjay Roy and not a sentence of death. The judgement said that the case did not meet the stringent criteria for being classified as “rarest of the rare”, as per the Supreme Court’s Bachan Singh guidelines which requires courts to consider mitigating and aggravating factors before imposing the death penalty. Meanwhile, on the same day, in Kerala’s Neyyattinkara Additional District Sessions Court, Greeshma, who was convicted of murdering her partner, was sentenced to death. The judgement said that, “The balance of justice tilts in favour of the proved aggravating circumstances”.

In both cases, the courts failed to take into account any circumstances of the accused (both in mitigating the death sentence and in giving it), and to assess the probability...

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