Report 202 – Proposal to amend Section 304-B IPC Dowry ... - Jeywin

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for the rarest of rare cases, the circumstances of the case are such
that death sentence is warranted, the court would proceed to do so.
2.8 Some of the cases where the Hon’ble Supreme Court
has commuted capital punishment to life
imprisonment:
2.8.1 In Machhi Singh Vs State of Punjab (1983) 3 SCC 470,
the three-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court considered the
Constitution Bench decision Bachan Singh Vs State of Punjab
and came to hold that where there is no proof of extreme
culpability, the extreme penalty need not be given. The Supreme
Court also further observed that the extreme penalty of death may
be given only in the rarest of rare cases where aggravating
circumstances are such that the extreme penalty meets the ends of
justice.
2.8.2 In Suresh Vs State of U.P., 2001 Cr. L.J. 1462 (SC), the
conviction was based upon the evidence of a child witness
and Chandrachud, C.J. speaking for the Court held that it will not
be safe to impose extreme penalty of death in a conviction based
on the deposition of a child. It was further observed that the
extreme sentence cannot seek its main support from the
evidence of a child
witness and it is not safe enough to act upon such deposition, even
if true, for putting out a life.
2.8.3 In Raja Ram Yadav Vs State of Bihar, 1996 Cr. L.J. 2307:
AIR 1996 SC 1631, the Hon’ble Supreme Court came to