Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished in India?

For some it is the ultimate justice for the worst crimes—terrorism, rape, murder, while others like myself, see it as a cruel act of vengeance – the name of fairness. I’ve wrestled with this,

talked it over with friends, and felt the weight of both sides. But the more I think about it, the

more I’m convinced: the death penalty is not the right thing, and India needs to let it go.

The biggest reason is that it’s permanent.Once someone’s gone, there’s no undoing it.

The efficiency of courts while settling these crimes is not as efficient as it should be. We are well aware of this fact. It can be extremely expensive to afford lawyers if one wants to fairly present a case before a judge. The courts in India take ages to pass a verdict for a single case, even then it may stretch into further years in the future. If the victim belongs to a lower class family or a low income household–the cost, the time, even the energy can take its toll.

For marginalized communities, this relentless cycle of delays and costs often means justice remains frustratingly out of reach. And the cherry on top becomes the perpetrators being wealthy or influential. The scale of justice has already dipped in their favour even before the court takes up the case. Connections, andmoney grants them a safe, clean path to bail from the charges.

The very prevalent caste system adds fuel to the already burning fire. People considered

“lower caste” are still treated horribly, despite the government passing acts such as the

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. Atrocities committed by people considered “Upper” caste, either go unreported or are deliberately concealed. The charges are dropped by a single bribe : "Suppress the cries of justice, with the evergreen pacifier - money”. Such practices not only perpetuate systemic oppression but also undermine the very legal framework designed to protect marginalized communities.

Look at Machang Lalung, locked up for 54 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Now imagine if

he’d been executed. An innocent life, snuffed out, and no apologies would be possible. There

are others, too many cases of wrongful convictions that surface years later, haunting us with the

question: what if we got it wrong? How many innocents are we willing to sacrifice just to keep this system in place?

Then there’s the argument that the death penalty keeps society safe by scaring off would-be

criminals. It sounds logical—make the punishment harsh, and people will think twice, right? But

life isn’t that simple. Crime doesn’t drop just because the penalty is severe. Poverty,

desperation, and broken systems–these drive violence, terrorism, and unethical activities far more than the fear of a trap. Studies show places with the death penalty don’t bring crime rates down than those without it.

If anything, crimes become more underground. Bribes and threats become the procedure to shut down these cases. Look at the cases of doctors being life threatening to medically falsify reports and “kill” the victim just to avoid the charges from being pressed. So why do we stick to this idea that executing someone stops the next crime? It is nothing but a false promise,and deep down, all of us know it.

Now, let’s talk about the other side, because I get it—the anger, the pain. When you hear about

something like the Nirbhaya case or the Mumbai attacks, your blood boils.You are enraged. You

want those monsters to pay, to suffer the way their victims did. It’s human to crave retribution, to feel that only the harshest punishment can balance the scales. I’ve felt that rage, too, imagining

justice for the unimaginable. But killing the guilty doesn’t bring back the lost ones. It doesn’t heal the families or undo the trauma. It just adds another body to the pile, feeding a cycle of violence

while we title it closure. Is that really what justice looks like?

India’s justice system should reflect what we truly believe in as a nation– compassion, fairness, and second chances. The death penalty–with its risk of irreversible errors – its failure to deter, and its reliance on vengeance over healing doesn’t fit that vision. Abolishing it would be being brave enough to choose humanity over revenge, and building a system that seeks to mend.

Don’t we owe that to ourselves, to our future, to the kind of country we want to be?