Punjab & Haryana HC issues notice in challenge to mandatory Death Penalty u/s 3(2)(i) of SC/ST Act

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has issued notice in a challenge to the Constitutionality of mandatory death sentence prescribed by Section 3(2)(i) of The Scheduled Castes And The Scheduled Tribes (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (SC/ST Act)..The Section prescribes a mandatory death sentence for willfully giving and fabricating false evidence which results in the conviction and execution of an innocent member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities..Notice was issued to the Central Government yesterday, by a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Krishna Murari..The petition has been filed by Daksh Kadian who is a student of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore..The Petitioner argues that Section 3(2)(i) is in violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India for being “manifestly being manifestly arbitrary, disproportionate and excessive.”.It is stated that “the standardized mandatory death sentence” fails to take into account the peculiar facts and circumstances of a case, thus depriving the court of the use of its discretion in a matter of life and death..The section, therefore, does not “give the leeway” to the court to weigh the aggravating factors against the mitigating factors while making a choice regarding the death penalty..“The legislature cannot make relevant circumstances irrelevant, deprive the courts of their legitimate jurisdiction to exercise their discretion not to impose the death sentence in appropriate cases, compel them to shut their eyes to mitigating circumstances and inflict upon them the dubious and unconscionable duty of imposing a pre-ordained sentence of death”, the petition reads..It has also been contended that the provision unfairly deprives the accused of an opportunity to be heard on the question of sentence under Section 235(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC)..The petitioner has further submitted that section makes Section 354(3) of CrPC irrelevant. Section 354(3) requires special reasons to be stated if Death Penalty is imposed over life imprisonment..The petition further disputes the rationale behind making a distinction between people who give false evidence against an innocent SC/ST person and those who give false and fabricated evidence against innocent persons not belonging to the SC/ ST communities..The petitioner has, therefore, prayed for quashing Section 3(2)(i) of SC/ ST Act as unconstitutional..Read the Petition.