Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980) – The “rarest of the rare” doctrine

Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab is a landmark case in India where the Supreme Court set the “rarest of the rare” doctrine, limiting the use of the death penalty.

This topic of “Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab (1980) – The “rarest of the rare” doctrine” is important from the perspective of the UPSC IAS Examination, which falls under General Studies Portion.

Background:

• Bachan Singh, the appellant, was convicted for the murder of his wife and sentenced to life imprisonment.
• After his release, he was living with a cousin’s family but was asked to leave.
• He then killed three members of the cousin’s family with an axe and was convicted and sentenced to death under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
• The High Court confirmed his death sentence and the appeal was brought to the Supreme Court.

Arguments:

• The appellant questioned if the facts of his case met the “special reasons” criteria for awarding the death penalty as required in Section 354(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
• He also argued that the death penalty provided for murder in the Indian Penal Code and the sentencing procedure in the Code of Criminal Procedure were unconstitutional.

Issues before the Court:

• Is the death penalty provided for murder in the Indian Penal Code unconstitutional?
• Is the sentencing procedure in the Code of Criminal Procedure unconstitutional for allowing arbitrary and unjust imposition of the death penalty?

Judgement:

• The court acknowledged that there is an increasing trend of violent crime in most countries, including India.
• The court ruled that there is no legal right or fundamental freedom to commit murder or other violent crimes under Article 19(1) of the Indian Constitution.
• The court upheld the death penalty as constitutional but emphasized the need for strict guidelines and proper discretion in its imposition.
  • The court prescribed a framework for death penalty sentencing, to ensure that the imposition of death sentences did not become an arbitrary and subjective exercise in individual cases.
  • This framework includes weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances (popularly known as the “rarest of rare” case) and determining whether the option of life imprisonment is “unquestionably foreclosed”.

Implications of the Case:

• The judgement in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab has had a significant impact on the imposition of the death penalty in India.
• The “rarest of rare” principle laid down in the case has been used as a guideline in subsequent cases involving the death penalty.
• The judgement has also led to a decrease in the number of death sentences imposed in India.

Glossary