Law Commission comes down heavily on Indian Express for ‘false reporting’

The Law Commission today rebuked the Indian Express for its report titled ‘End death penalty, keep it for terror only, recommends Law Commission’. In a press release, the Commission has stated that the article in question is “a case of incorrect reporting [and] does not reflect the final recommendations of the Commission”..The Indian Express report was based on a 272-page draft report of the Law Commission, which apparently “favours the speedy abolition of the death penalty from the statute books, except in cases where the accused is convicted of involvement in a terror case”..In the release, the Law Commission has further stated that the draft report did not reflect the final views of the Law Commission and that reporting on such a sensitive topic without understanding the views of the Commission would have an adverse impact on the public. The communique concluded by describing the news report as “an interference in its functioning”..According to another news report, a majority of the members of the panel were opposed to the death penalty. It is perhaps the views of these members that have been expressed in the draft report. Apart from Chairman Justice AP Shah, retired judges Justice SN Kapoor, Justice Usha Mehra, and Professor Mool Chand Sharma are members of the panel. Law Secretary PK Malhotra and Legislative Secretary Sanjay Singh are the ex-officio members..The Law Commission’s reaction may mean that it has not changed its stance from its earlier report on the same topic. In any case, things will only be clarified once the final report is released. That is likely to happen sometime this week, given the fact that the term of the Commission comes to an end on August 31.