In an editorial in the Hindustan Times Vir Sanghvi...

In an editorial in the Hindustan Times Vir Sanghvi argued against the debated implementation of the death penalty to convicted rapists: "I have two problems with the death-penalty-for-rape approach. The first is that it doesn't seem to work. And the second is that by demanding that we hang or castrate all rapists, we are focussing on the least worrying part of the problem: the eventual punishment. The problem with the death penalty is that it actually decreases the chance of conviction. Evidence from all over the world has shown that when judges are about to take the extreme step of ending a man's life, they are nearly always assailed by doubts and look for reasons to acquit. There are two other problems. There is no evidence that the death penalty, while it does satisfy society's thirst for revenge, actually works as a deterrent to potential criminals. So, even if we hanged all rapists, women should still be at risk. And there's the question of evidence: in all rape trials, it is the victim who identifies the rapist. If a rapist knows that his crime carries the death penalty then he will simply kill the victim after raping her to make sure that she can never testify against him. Even if he is caught and charged with murder, what's the worst that can happen: he'll get the death penalty, which he would have got for rape in any case."