Abolish Death Penalty India: Haryana - Man given death penalty for killing disabled younger brother

Friday, January 17, 2025

Haryana - Man given death penalty for killing disabled younger brother

Updated on: Jan 17, 2025 05:02 am IST

A local court in Haryana’s Fatehabad on Thursday sentenced a man to death for brutally killing his brother with disability over property dispute in 2020. District and sessions judge Deepak Aggarwal convicted Ashok Kumar under sections 302 (murder), 457, 506 (criminal intimidation) and 201 of the Indian penal code. He awarded death penalty to the accused besides imposing a fine of ₹35,000 on him. Aggarwal termed this incident as ‘rare of the rarest’. According to police, the case dates back to June 18, 2020 when the victim’s sister Sushma had lodged a police complaint against her elder brother Ashok Kumar for allegedly killing their younger brother Deepak, who was disabled. She told the police that Deepak was living with their mother in Fatehabad’s Tohana.

“Ashok Kumar was disgruntled after my mother had transferred the plot to Deepak. My elder brother Ashok decapitated Deepak and roamed with the latter’s severed head for one day and later threw it in a canal. We got information from Deepak’s friend that Ashok had killed him. We spotted Deepak’s body in a pool of blood and informed the police,” she added. According to police, the accused Ashok Kumar had fled with ₹60,000 in cash, two mobile phones and a gold bracelet of Deepak. Later, he informed all the relatives that he had killed his brother, and he had even recorded the audio calls.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/man-given-death-penalty-for-killing-disabled-younger-brother-101737048837145.html

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The Death Penalty Scenario in India

India is one of 193 countries that retains the death penalty. Some judges have delivered landmark verdicts upholding the rights of death row prisoners, while debates continue advocating abolition or reform of sentencing policies. The Indian government remains committed to retention, asserting executions occur only in “rarest of rare” cases. The death penalty applies to crimes including murder, kidnapping, terrorism, desertion, inducement to suicide of a minor or mentally-retarded person, and in certain cases of rape. Outrage over child rape and murder has intensified these discussions. After an unofficial eight-year moratorium, the government executed Ajmal Kasab (Mumbai attacks) in 2012 and Afzal Guru (Parliament attack) in 2013, both covertly and immediately after mercy petitions were rejected. Prior to this, Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed in 2004 after 13 years on death row. Following these, many mercy petitions have been rejected, creating fear among death row convicts. Courts continue to hand down death sentences at an increasing rate. Empirical studies highlight the plight of death row prisoners. The India Exclusion Report 2017-18 found fair trial rights largely denied, with convicts often marginalized by caste, religion, poverty, and education. The Death Penalty Research Project (2015) documented socio-economic profiles and experiences of death row prisoners. Dr. Reena Mary George’s studies (2014, 2009) emphasized poverty, social exclusion, and dignity as central to death row experiences, and examined the human rights impact of the penalty. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2015, 101 prisoners were on death row, with many sentences commuted to life. The “rarest of rare” doctrine introduced by the Supreme Court in the 1980s has not substantially limited death sentences, which have increased over the decades. Justice Joseph (2018) reaffirmed the Bachan Singh judgment but urged restriction of the death penalty to only those cases meeting its criteria. While updating the blog and conducting my own empirical studies, I observed the heinous nature of the crimes that were committed and thought about the families, about their loss, about the victims who for no fault of their own died. If I lost my relative or a dear friend, would I still oppose death penalty and would I still advocate to abolish the death sentence? Having worked in the criminal justice system and also having the seen the other side, where often it is the marginalized, vulnerable and oppressed who are on death row makes me want to advocate for abolition of this punishment. Victims should definitely get justice for their loss, for their pain. No one should escape the rule of law. As long as humanity exists; crime will exist. Should we not re-consider our sentencing policies? Reena Mary George