"Rarest of the Rare"

I mentioned the death penalty a few posts ago, and I've gotten a few questions on it, mostly how India's dp compares to the United State's policies.

I recently found the Kractivist blog while researching my next fact-finding trip. The author is an activist who covers broad human rights issues such as violence against women and the death penalty.

I think this post: The Death Lottery: The Case Against Capital Punishment gives a great overview of major Indian dp cases, including:

• 1973 - Jagmohan Singh - dp is constitutionally permissible if imposed after a fair trial in accordance with a "procedure established by law."

• 1980 - Bachan Singh - created guiding principles on the death penalty: used only in "rarest of the rare cases" and that sufficient weight be given to:
• (1) mitigating circumstances (pertaining to the criminal)
  AND
• (2) aggravating circumstances (relating to the crime)

• 1996 - Ram Chander aka Ravji - the conviction was overturned in 2009 when the court said Ravji was convicted on the basis of the crime without consideration of mitigating circumstances. Seven cases (six based on the Ravji decision) were overturned and 13 people had their sentence changed from death to life in prison. However, Ravji and one defendant had already been executed.

If you want more details, please check out the full article linked above and originally published in Open Magazine. The article was originally published November 29, 2012, so it doesn't reference the December 16 gangrape.