Death Sentence : Extent of Judicial Discretion and Need of Guidelines
By
Arjun Garg
Death sentences of Dhananjay Chaterjee was executed on 14th August 2004, and he was hanged till death, after affirmation by the Supreme Court and rejection of his mercy Petition by the Hon’ble president. The case against him was that he hit a girl aged 14 years, brutally on head, and while the girl was dying, she was raped by the accused. Result ultimately the girl died. The sessions’s Court considered it as the rarest of rare case. High Court affirmed the death sentence and the appeal against the High Courts order was dismissed by the S.C.
While the majority of people in this country welcomed the execution, there were a few organizations & people who straight away outlaw capital punishment for any kind of offence and therefore, they opposed Dhananjay’s death sentence at well. All this opposition led to a big drama before the sentence was executed and a desperate attempt was made to keep the issue of death sentence alive.
We as the member of thi ....