Shashi Tharoor introduces bill to Lok Sabha for abolishing death penalty

From ‘Cattle Class’ to ‘Hindu Pakistan’ Shashi Tharoor has shocked the people with his point-blank blunt remarks. However, he has defended his ‘Hindu Pakistan’ remark by saying, “There were two ideas, one of a country based on religion, which is Pakistan. And, the other where religion was irrelevant, which is India. Those challenging the very idea of India are in power right now,” he said. ​Tharoor further called for unity, and said that the Congress party doesn’t believe in division.

Tharoor, is now back in the news for introducing a bill in the Lok Sabha asking for the abolishment of death penalty. In a series of tweets, Tharoor has put forth his views why he finds the ‘death penalty’ as not a solution or a deterrent for crimes.

1/5 As per a recent study, 72% of 60 former judges of the Supreme Court who had heard 208 cases of death penalty, said that the wrongful convictions resulting in the death penalty are a worrying reality. Some even said that there is tendency to fabricate evidence through torture. pic.twitter.com/3Ai6YucaAG

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 4, 2018

2/5 Given the poor quality of legal aid in our country, it is not surprising that most of those sentenced to death are from economically disadvantaged communities. Even wrongful conviction of life imprisonment can always be corrected, unlike in the case of those who are executed.

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 4, 2018

3/5 The death penalty does not deter criminal activity more than the punishment of life imprisonment. In fact, the Supreme Court itself held that cases that resulted in the death penalty cannot be rationally distinguished from those that resulted in life imprisonment.

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 4, 2018

4/5 This indicates arbitrariness in the treatment of human lives based on the ideologies and beliefs of judges, and is therefore a violation of the right to equality under Article 14 and the right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 4, 2018

5/5 The 262nd Report of the Law Commission analyzed the issue of death penalty in depth & concluded that it lacks penological justification. For all these reasons, my Bill seeks to abolish the death penalty and substitutes it with imprisonment for the rest of the criminal’s life.

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 4, 2018

So far, no one from the Congress has commented on Shashi Tharoor’s bill nor have the BJP.

A few days back Tharoor had also said that if the BJP wins in 2019, India’s Constitution won’t survive. Victory in the general elections will give the BJP “all the elements they need to tear apart the Constitution of India and write a new one”, he MP said.

Before the Gujarat election, Gandhi suspended Mani Shankar Aiyar, a veteran party leader, who called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “neech aadmi”. Aiyar, however later apologised for his remark.