‘Forgiving Nature Fuels Crime’: SC Judge Blames Leniency for Rising Crime, Says Death Penalty Relief Must End

The Supreme Court on Thursday raised concerns that its repeated decisions to commute death sentences to life imprisonment could be contributing to rising crime. Justice Dipankar Datta reportedly said there must be a limit to judicial leniency and that the court needed to draw a line somewhere.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu made the oral observations while hearing a plea seeking the premature release of a life convict whose death sentence had earlier been commuted to life imprisonment in a murder case.

“It is because of our forgiving nature, that India is facing these problems. Forgive, forgive, forgive, you have to draw a line somewhere,” Justice Datta reportedly said.

‘Times Have Changed’, Says Justice Datta

Justice Datta said murder cases were earlier dealt with under the “rarest of rare” doctrine, under which the death penalty is reserved for exceptional cases. However, he observed that times had changed and questioned the repeated commutation of death sentences.

The judge stressed that the court could not continue extending leniency without considering where such an approach should end. His remarks raised questions about how the judiciary should deal with convicts involved in serious crimes.

During the hearing, Justice Datta referred to a case involving a man convicted of raping and murdering his elder daughter. The Supreme Court had commuted the man's death sentence to life imprisonment, the judge reportedly said.

• The man was later released on parole after spending years in prison and allegedly murdered the mother in front of his younger daughter, Justice Datta said.
• The younger daughter's testimony subsequently led to the man being sentenced to death, but the Supreme Court later commuted that sentence to life imprisonment.

Supreme Court’s Leniency Comes Under Question

Justice Datta reportedly said the Supreme Court had later commuted the man's death sentence because he had not murdered his younger daughter. He cited the case to explain why he believed there should be limits to the court's forgiving approach towards convicts.

“That is why we say, our forgiving nature has to come to an end somewhere,” Justice Datta reportedly said.

The remarks were made during the hearing of the premature release plea and were oral observations by the bench. They highlighted the judges' concerns about repeated sentence commutations in serious criminal cases but did not, by themselves, amount to a final ruling on the plea.