In a pro­posed amend­ment to its penal code, Indian lead­ers are seek­ing to imple­ment a change that would end the nation’s death penal­ty even ​“in the rarest of rare” cas­es. The amend­ed Indian Penal Code would abol­ish the death penal­ty and replace it with a strict life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole mea­sure. Currently, the nation’s life sen­tence statute only requires impris­on­ment for 14 years. The deci­sion to seek an offi­cial end to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment ful­fills a pledge made by the chair­man of the Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System, Mr. Justice VS Malimath. The pro­posed amend­ment was craft­ed to reflect an ​“evolv­ing con­sen­sus” with­in the nation. The pro­pos­al to abol­ish the death penal­ty and add a true life sen­tence seeks to serve the twin objec­tives of advanc­ing human rights and pre­vent­ing such crim­i­nals from com­ing out of prison. The Union Cabinet is expect­ed to review the amend­ed Indian Penal Code before it would like­ly be placed before Parliament for its approval and pas­sage. (The Statesman, May 31, 2005). See International Death Penalty and Life Without Parole.

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