DOCTRINE OF “RAREST OF RARE” AND INDIAN LEGAL SYSTEM

Abstract

Once upon time in Indian judiciary that the Hon’ble supreme court of India propounded the doctrine of “Rarest of rare” and since then, hence the Indian legal system has taken view that, “The life sentence is the rule and the death penalty is an exception.” But legislature has not enacted yet “What is the rarest of the rare” hence absence of any salutary definition for application of this doctrine for that doctrine our legal system talks like ‘It dependent upon the facts and the circumstances of the case’, brutality of the crime, conduct of the offender previous history of his involvement in a crime, chances of reforming and integrating him in to the society etc. Hence with due respect but it becomes very confusing and conflicting for its application in criminal justice system of India The generally applied test while sentencing a convict to death is whether the survival of an orderly society demands extinction of life of the person who has committed the offence and whether failure to impose death sentence on him would bring to naught the sentence of death provided under Section 302 of IPC. Pre-planned, brutal, cold- blooded and sordid nature of a crime, without giving any chance to the victim, are generally taken into account to decide whether a particular case falls within the parameters of “rarest of rare”. In this regard the Hon’ble supreme court of India is saying that “Death penalty should be imposed when collective conscience of the society is so shocked that it will expect the holders of the judicial power center to inflict death penalty irrespective of their personal opinion as regards desirability of otherwise of retaining death penalty,” said the Supreme Court in, Bachan Singh Vs. State of Punjabi .The crime has to be viewed from various angles – manner of commission of murder, motive for commission of murder, anti-social or socially abhorrent nature of crime and magnitude and personality of victim of murder. But the manner in which death penalty is being given in a large number of cases raises a serious question. Are trial courts in India giving a go by to the ‘rarest of rare’ doctrine? The question becomes all the more relevant because not all convicts awarded death penalty are executed in India. The number of death sentences pronounced has been very high despite the “rarest of rare” doctrine that limits the scope of awarding capital punishment.