Musings on India, the law, and policy
Posted in Uncategorized on May 30th, 2011
With the President rejecting the mercy petitions of two convicts on death row, time has again come for the debates surrounding the death penalty to be revived. The issue in the present cases seem to be rather political though. One of those convicted was a member of the Khalistan movement and the political parties from [...]
Posted in Court, Rule of Law, Terrorism on Feb 21st, 2011
By now it should not come as news to all of us that the Bombay High Court has upheld the death sentence on Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist caught in the Mumbai attacks in 26/11. The Home Minister has hailed this verdict as a victory to the rule of law and the Indian Legal system. May [...]
Posted in Constitution, Court, Politics on Nov 29th, 2010
In the current edition of The New York Review of Books, John Paul Stevens (former Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court) has reviewed “Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition” – a study on the issue by David Garland, who is the Vanderbilt Professor of Law at NYU. Through the course [...]
Posted in Constitution, Court, india on Jul 8th, 2009
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to buy the argument that ‘Hanging is inhuman’. The petitioner Ashok Kumar Walia had argued that hanging was a “cruel and painful” method of execution and should be replaced by lethal injection or any other method. The Chief Justice refused to take note of the argument stating that there was no [...]