Tripura resolution against capital punishment

Correspondent

AGARTALA,Aug 7 - The Tripura Assembly on Friday unanimously passed a resolution advocating for turning capital punishment to rigorous imprisonment till the death for an accused under 302 of IPC. Shortly after routine Question Hour, Congress MLA Jitendra Sarkar moved a resolution converting death penalty to rigorous imprisonment for a murder accused person under 302 IPC. Although there are provisions of rechecking of the verdict of death sentence by the President of India and the Supreme Court, the death penalty is an ultimate punishment in case of rarest of the rare case, he said in the House. �If an accused person is awarded the capital punishment, there is no scope of repentance or suffering punishment or rectification process. The House must pass a resolution lifting the death penalty�, he pleaded. Parliamentary Affair Minister Tapan Chakraborty, echoing similar view, said there has been debate on the death penalty across the country. �In our country, death penalty is being awarded to those for committing heinous crime like murder, terrorist activities or severe nature of crime�, he pointed out. Noting that most of the developed countries have already abolished the capital punishment, Chakraborty strongly advocated for reformative justice even in rarest of rare nature of crime. He added, most developed nations view that to control crime rigorous imprisonment till the death is more effective than the capital punishment. �An-eye-for-an-eye like justice should be the spirit of the judiciary system�, he said. Interestingly, Congress legislator Ratan Lal Nath, however viewed in different angle. �There is no scope to know whether a guilty person repents or not for committing a severe nature of crime when they are at jail. Thus, the death penalty should stay in a country like India�. Opposition leader Sudip Roy Barman, while reciting Mahatma Gandhi�s wisdom words- The God can alone take a life as he alone creates it, said there should be a move to amend the provision of death penalty. �In providing capital punishment, the prosecution side and the police could play a vital role. Repentance is the biggest punishment and the hanging should be lifted�, he opined. Fully backing the resolution, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, �The guilty person must face punishment to send a message to the society that if anybody commits crime, he or she is bound to face punishment�. �Capital punishment should not be desirable even as the case is rare in nature. Nobody wants to reside in jail. �Kidnapping� of one�s life is not wise even if he or she committed severe nature of crime�, he said. Sarkar added, �One can�t say a guilty person is repenting in jail since there is no such scope at all. I do hereby support the motion to convert capital punishment into rigorous imprisonment till the death in case of rarest of rare case�. Later, the resolution was passed unanimously as one Congress MLA remained �silent� while it was being moved for voting.