INDIA. LEGISLATURE WILL DECIDE ON DEATH PENALTY: CHIEF JUSTICE

India's new chief justice, Y.K. Sabharwal, sought to distance himself from the debate on the death penalty, saying the legislature would have to take a final call on the issue.
"The judiciary cannot take a decision on whether or not the death penalty should continue," Sabharwal, who assumed office on November 1, told reporters. "We cannot interfere in this issue. We only implement what the law says. We pass sentence on the basis of what the law says," he said.