Justice Kurian Joseph. (TNN file photo)

NEW DELHI: Reversing concurrent decisions of a Chhattisgarh trial court and the high court to award death sentence to a man convicted of killing a couple and their daughter-in-law, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered his incarceration for life but brought alive the debate on retention of the extreme penalty in statute books.

Justice Kurian Joseph, who retires on Thursday, and Justices Deepak Gupta and Hemant Gupta were unanimous in converting the death penalty to life imprisonment for Chhannu Lal Verma, who had entered the house of Anandram Sahu on October 19, 2011 and killed him, along with his wife and and daughter-in-law, who had previously accused Verma of rape leading to his serving a year in jail prior to acquittal.

Justice Joseph referred in detail to the Law Commission's 262nd report, which had said: "Death penalty does not serve the penological goal of deterrence any more than life imprisonment. Life imprisonment under Indian law means imprisonment for the whole of life subject to just remissions which, in many states in serious cases, are granted only after many years of imprisonment which range from 30-60 years."

The Commission said it felt that time has come for India to move towards abolition of the death penalty.

Justice Joseph appeared to share the view of the Commission that despite a Constitution bench of SC devising the ‘rarest of rare' category of murder cases where alone death penalty should be imposed, the imposition of extreme penalty continued to be ‘arbitrarily and freakishly imposed'.

He was of the view that time has come for the country to take a fresh look at the need for imposition of death penalty as a punishment, especially its purpose and practice. Though Justice Joseph's judgement could spark a fresh debate over efficacy of death penalty, the other two judges on the bench disagreed with him.

Justice Deepak Gupta and Hemant Gupta said: "Since the Constitution bench in Bachan Singh Vs State of Punjab has upheld the validity of capital punishment, there is no need to re-examine it." Justice Joseph said: "Till the time death penalty exists in the statute books, the burden to be satisfied by the judge in awarding this punishment must be high."

