Death penalty remains complex constitutional debate

Vijayawada: “The death penalty in India continues to remain a deeply complex and constitutionally debated issue. While it is constitutionally valid, its imposition is subject to the strictest judicial safeguards,” said Dr Anup Surendranath, Professor at NALSAR University of Law, while delivering the Eighth Endowment Lecture of late Lavu Venkateswarlu on “Death Penalty in India’s Criminal Justice System: A Complex Constitutional Question.” Retired Supreme Court judge Justice Lavu Nageswara Rao was the chief guest. Also present were Sri Velagapudi Durgamba Siddhartha Law College Principal Dr Chennupati Divakar Babu, Siddhartha Academy Secretary Paladugu Lakshmana Rao, former SAP Chairman Ankam Chowdary, and Bezawada Bar Association president AK Basha, along with faculty members, advocates, and law students.

Delivering the Endowment lecture, Dr Anup Surendranath explained that Articles 72 and 161 of the Indian Constitution grant the President and Governors the power of pardon, which indirectly acknowledges the constitutional validity of the death penalty. He referred to the landmark judgment in Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, wherein the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of capital punishment but restricted its application to the “rarest of rare” cases. Earlier, Justice Lavu Nageswara Rao inaugurated the eighth memorial endowment lecture of his father, late Lavu Venkateswarlu, by lighting the ceremonial lamp. Principal Dr Divakar Babu said that only around 50 countries continue to implement capital punishment and highlighted ongoing debates, Law Commission reports, and advocacy by NGOs and social activists seeking its abolition.