Supreme Court questions 'forgiving' approach to commuting death sentences

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu on October 8 orally observed that the court's "forgiving nature" in commuting death sentences was contributing to rising crime, remarking that "forgive, forgive, forgive, you have to draw a line somewhere." The observations came while hearing a premature-release plea by Sanjeev Kumar, a murder convict whose death sentence had been commuted to life; the bench reserved its verdict. Justice Datta noted that murder cases were once dealt with under the strict "rarest of rare" doctrine because such crimes were rare, but questioned whether that still holds. NDTV The Tribune Times of India (NDTV, The Tribune, Times of India)

• A Supreme Court bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu on October 8 orally observed that the court's "forgiving nature" in commuting death sentences was contributing to rising crime, remarking that "forgive, for
• Justice Datta noted that murder cases were once dealt with under the strict "rarest of rare" doctrine because such crimes were rare, but questioned whether that still holds.
• NDTV The Tribune Times of India