INDIA. DEATH PENALTY ONLY IN RAREST OF RARE CASES, SUPREME COURT

the death penalty should be awarded in only the rarest of rare cases, India’s Supreme Court said, while asking the judiciary to consider aggravating and mitigating circumstances in awarding the extreme sentence.
"The death sentence should be imposed when the murder is committed in an extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner so as to arouse intense and extreme indignation of the community," the court said.
Further, the bench said, capital punishment was necessary "when the murder is committed for a motive which evinces total depravity and meanness or cold-blooded murder for gains of a person or murder is committed in the course of betrayal of the motherland and when the crime is enormous in proportion or when the victim of murder is an innocent child or a helpless woman or old or infirm person". The Supreme Court’s guidelines were made in relation to the case of Devendra Nath Rai. Rai had been sentenced to death by a military court for the murder of two soldiers. The case was then brought to the Allahabad High Court which confirmed the conviction but overturned the death sentence saying it was not warranted since it did not fall into the “rarest of rare” category. The central government then filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the judgement. Following the issuance of the above guidelines, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Allahabad High Court to be considered afresh.