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It is a pivotal moment in Indian history. Not just for the legal system, but for the country and all that reside here. Our tradition of civilization, spiritual & wise thought recognised the world over, passed down from the Vedas, from Buddha, through Ashoka, the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, Guru Nanak, and with Gandhiji – to give birth to a modern and secular India…Will it rise to this moment and be faithful to our lineage? Or will our global status fall, as India and we as its people, fail to rise to the challenge presented to us by ‘The Death Penalty’?

This website represents a unique resource for those who wish to be informed about the debate.

It is for the ordinary person to clarify their views on an understandably emotive issue, through articles and informed opinion. It is for lawyers, who can use the copious resources and materials section to clarify their perspectives by reference to Supreme Court case law and international jurisprudence related to the death sentence. It is for campaigners to have at hand the facts, statistics and cases, often so hard to obtain from Government offices.

118 countries have effectively abolished the death penalty, the majority of counties in the world. Few democratic countries retain it. Though India, the largest democracy in the world, still does. Uncivilised? Barbaric? Reactionary? Vengeful?…Does an enlightened State with a history such as India’s have any right to betray its traditions, spirituality, religions, moralities and ethics? What are the issues that drive the ordinary citizen to back the death penalty? What are the theories on which we base the punishment meted out to the perpetrator’s of heinous crimes? What is the gulf between these theories and the reality? Will we sacrifice our standing, reputation, and that of our ancestors, so that we can satisfy primal desires for revenge, and perpetuate the cycle of killing?…

And what message do we send to would-be terrorists, killers, murderers, mafias, families and children yet to grow, if the State effectively says that killing is acceptable in any way? Will we continue to take ‘an eye for an eye’, and will the whole world not eventually be blind, if we do?

Or: ‘Can Society Escape the Noose…?’

Now is the moment when the battle is to be joined.

For the life of each innocent person yet to be condemned to death.
For their families, whose suffering is yet to begin.
For the disenfranchised who suffer
Inequality before the law.

For the conscience of the individual.
& for the soul of a Nation.

As standards of decency in the world continue to evolve, the retention of the death penalty will become an anachronism, inevitably. For the majority of the world’s countries, it already is. Until it becomes so in India, the challenge is there for us all to end this barbaric punishment, and to further civilise our unique society by so doing. At present, though, the death penalty is an olden day punishment in a 21st Century world, and it is alive and well in India. It is now our job to prove that our society can indeed escape the noose.