Abstract:
Indian criminal justice system provides for coercive and stringent laws that not only affirms liability for an offense but also imposes restrictions over the liberty of the convicts. Though convicts result out of carrying out heinous crimes by depriving the life of the victims, yet the convicts cannot be undressed from their fundamental rights and freedom. The human right of the convict should also be considered. The statutory and constitutional rights should follow the convicts even behind the bars of the prison. The Indian Courts have been continuously stressing upon the “Human Dignity” evolving the human dignity jurisprudence within in the Indian Penal system. This becomes more intense in the case of the death penalty convicts. “Freedom of Dignity” provided under Article 21 of the Constitution of India enshrines dignity to the inmates and convicts of the crime. The same implies to the death row convicts also. The death row convicts are to die within the walls of the prisons and their fundamental freedom to be made available to him becomes very crucial point of debate. It includes the basic rights of health, safety, conjugal rights and right to procreation etc. This paper attempts to delineate the dignity rights to be made available for the death row convicts in the Indian criminal justice system.
Key words: Right to Human Dignity, Death Row Prisoners, Indian Criminal Justice System, Freedom against delayed execution, Freedom to health and safety, Judicial Intervention.
Introduction:
Human Dignity is the fundamental and core foundation of Human Rights. All human beings irrespective of their legal, political or social status has the right to live with dignity. This right cannot be made available to a human as under whims and fancies or as a privilege but these are inevitable rights of a human being, thus upholding equity and justice. The prisoners also have the right for dignified treatment. Though the prisoners and the death row convicts cannot claim for their complete fundamental rights, they cannot be denied with the treatment of basic human rights. The prisoners in the prison are always considered vulnerable, while the death row prisoners are tend to be more vulnerable to various violations of their basic right to dignity.
Status of Death Penalty in India:
Most of the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty as punishment on various humanitarian grounds. In India, the death penalty is not abolished yet but it holds the concept of “rarest of the rare cases” held in the case of Bacchan Singh v. State of Punjab [1](1980) under which death penalty can be awarded as punishment. The death penalty being imposed should be properly reasoned and justified by the judiciary. The Law Commission report was also reiterated by the Supreme Court that the manner of execution must be fair, efficient, speedy and that it must uphold the dignity of the prisoner. The same was upheld in the case of Macchi Singh & Ors v. State of Punjab[2](1983).
The law of capital punishment was also referred to in Deena Dayal v. Union of India[3] (1983), because hanging by rope violated Article 21 as it was held to be cruel and inhumane. In T.V. Vatheeswaran v. The State of Tamil Nadu[4] (1983), the Supreme Court faced a dilemma that a substantial delay on executing death sentence was reasonable to commute the same to life imprisonment.
[1] 1983 1 SCR 145.
[2] 1983 AIR 957.
[3] 1983 AIR 1155.
[4] 1983 AIR 361.