Life in prison or death?

Thu, Mar 20 01:45 AM

It will literally be a question of life and death for suspended IPS officer R.K. Sharma and three others on Thursday when a city court hears arguments on the quantum of sentence to be given to them in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case. Additional Sessions Judge Rajinder Kumar Shastri will hear Special Public Prosecutor S.K. Saxena and the defence counsel of the four convicts to decide whether to hand them life sentence or death.

Apart from R.K. Sharma, three other accused - Pradeep Sharma, Sri Bhagwan and Satya Prakash were also convicted of the murder, while accused Ved Prakash Sharma and Ved Prakash alias Kalu were acquitted for want of evidence. The prosecution is expected to seek capital punishment for R.K. Sharma and Pradeep, who masterminded and executed the crime respectively.

According to Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, "Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine." Generally courts award life imprisonment to convicts in a murder case.

However, in "rarest of rare" cases, murder convicts are given death penalty. Death sentence can be imposed on the convicts if the court comes to the conclusion that life imprisonment is inadequate having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case.

The court has to give special reasons for sentencing a convict to death. Capital punishment can be inflicted only in gravest cases of extreme culpability and in making choice of the sentence the condition of the convict has also to be taken into account.

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