CPI protests SC rejection of Yakub Memon's plea

New Delhi, Jul 29: CPI on Thursday protested the Supreme Court's decision to dismiss Bombay blasts case convict Yakub Memon's plea against his execution tomorrow, saying the time has come to reconsider all laws to abolish death penalty.

"An eye for an eye and tooth for tooth cannot be the philosophy of Indian jurisprudence. Time has come to reconsider all laws to ultimately abolish death penalty," party's National Secretary D Raja said.

Maintaining that his party was opposed to capital punishment, Raja, who has moved a private resolution in the Rajya Sabha on the issue, demanded declaration of a moratorium on all death sentence executions till the abolition of death penalty.

In the resolution, he has asked the government to reconsider its stand and make necessary amendments to various laws which have provisions for the death penalty to abolish capital punishment in the country.

Observing that committing a crime was "more a sociological than a legal problem", Raja also quoted a study by the National Law University here which said,"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."

Noting that former President APJ Abdul Kalam had supported abolition of death penalty, the CPI leader said the Supreme Court itself has admitted to errors and miscarriage of justice due to the arbitrary application of death penalty.

Law Commission Chairman Justice AP Shah has also said there was "a serious need to re-examine" the issue of death penalty since there were several inconsistencies in the system, which led to "arbitrariness and discrimination" in the imposition of death penalty, Raja added.

PTI