Supreme Court on Death Sentence

What is the situation in India?

Norms:

• The Supreme Court had set salutary norms that the death penalty is to be imposed only in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases.
• Subsequent judgements further established this principle by holding that an offence’s gruesome nature isn’t the sole criterion for deciding its categorization as a ‘rarest of rare’ case. Other key factors that influence the decision include the offender’s socio-economic background, state of mind, etc.
• In practice, the sentencing is done after the court records the conviction. This is often done on the same day as the verdict, as only limited arguments are heard on mitigating circumstances (from convict’s side) and aggravating circumstances (from prosecution’s side).
• Such same-day sentencing has been upheld by multiple judgements. The apex court has h