World has travelled far from the punitive approach to the crime towards the reformative approach in the contemporary times. But in this reformative era, penal policy in India contains the provision of Death Penalty for various offences. The Constitutional Validity of Death Penalty in India has been challenged in the backdrop of Article 21: The Right to Life and has been established by the Apex Court in Bachan Singh V. State of Punjab. The Court gave the Rarest of the Rare Case Doctrine that over the period of time become a topic of debate with the allegation of arbitrary application of it in the cases of capital offences. Death Penalty, its execution and the necessity in the Penal Law thus become the most to be researched issue when abolitionists and the retentionists strongly put forth their views in the matter.
The book is a serious attempt to study the jurisprudence of Death Penalty and its evolutionary history in the Indian Laws. None of the aspects of Death Penalty is omitted in this work. The subject is studied covering the philosophy behind the Law relating to the Death Penalty, application of such Law in India, working of the criminal justice system in the cases of Capital offences, a comparative study with other nations and the contemporary discussions revolving round the issue.
Contents –
1. Nature of Crime and Theories of Punishment
2. Criminal Justice System in India
3. Status of Death Penalty in Other Countries
4. Constitutional Validity of Death Penalty and Evolution of Rarest of The Rare Case Doctrine
5. Application of Rarest of The Rare Case Doctrine
6. Death Penalty, Judicial Mind and The Contemporary Debates
7. The Way Forward
Bibliography
