The story so far: A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court has referred to a five-member Constitution Bench the issue of giving meaningful opportunity to those found guilty of a capital offence to present mitigating factors and circumstances so that they can better plead for a life term instead of a death sentence. The reference was made to resolve differences between judgments, mainly on whether it is necessary to hold the hearing on sentencing on a subsequent day and not on the day of the conviction. It is believed that an authoritative verdict on the question may lead to the judicial system making death sentences even rarer than it is now.
What does the law say on sentencing?
The issue arises from the legal requirement that whenever a court records a conviction, it has to hold a separate hearing on the quantum of sentence. Section 235 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) says that after hearing arguments, the judge shall give a judgment; and, “if the accused is convicted, the judge shall hear the accused on the question of sentence and then pass sentence”. This process gains significance if the conviction is for an offence that entails either death or life imprisonment. Section 354(3) says that when an offence is punishable with death or imprisonment for life, the judgment shall state the reasons for the sentence awarded, and if the sentence is death, “special reasons” for the sentence.
