Back to life (Acquittal of death row convicts by S.C.)

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 Back to life (Acquittal of death row convicts by S.C.)

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• Kafkaesque horror : Six members of a nomadic tribe saw their life ruined while in prison for 16 years, for a crime they did not commit. The 2009 Supreme Court verdict (to hang all 6 of them) was re-visited through the Review Petition, the SC bench (of 3) found that unreliable testimony was used to convict all six.
• The crime : The case goes back to 2003, when a gang broke into a hut, robbed the family, killed 5, and raped a girl of 15 years. The heinous nature of the crime may have prompted the earlier order, as rendering complete justice is a prerogative for Courts.
• Fresh hearing : The Court found that these accused were involved in an unrelated crime elsewhere, and were innocent here.
• Death Penalty in India : This case is another reminder of the need to re-examine the death penalty. If these six were hanged to death, the truth would have been buried. 
• Latest SC stance : The Court has been limiting the scope for the death penalty, by recognising the rights of death row convicts. Now, review petitions in death sentence cases are heard in open court.
• Long delays : It also so happens that long delays ultimately lead to commuting of death sentences to life imprisonment.
• A biased system : The legal system allegedly favours the rich and influential, and the weak and poor may face the heat.
• "Rarest of rare case" norm : There seems to be little consistency in the way this norm is applied. When people clamour for justice, they want the maximum punishment. Each death sentence will carry the confusion if truth really was established well. The only way out is to abolish the death penalty altogether.
• Summary : The social and institutional shortcomings in India can create a great bias against the weak and the poor, leading to a dangerous doubt whether the truth was truly established in death penalty cases; the only way out is to abolish the death penalty.

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