CASE COMMENTARY ON BACHAN SINGH V. STATE OF PUNJAB (AIR 1980 SC 898)

Author – Pooja Agarwal, Student at Asian Law College, Noida

Best Citation – Pooja Agarwal, CASE COMMENTARY ON BACHAN SINGH V. STATE OF PUNJAB (AIR 1980 SC 898), ILE CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW, 2 (2) of 2023, Pg. 12-17, ISSN – 2583-7168.

ABSTRACT

This is a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court of India on the constitutionality of the death penalty in India. Bachan was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the court. His appeal against the sentence was dismissed by the High Court. The main issue before the Supreme Court was whether the death penalty was constitutional under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty. The Court held that the death penalty was constitutional but should be awarded only in the “rarest of rare” cases where the alternative punishment of life imprisonment would be “unquestionably inadequate”. The Court laid down a set of guidelines to determine whether a case falls in the “rarest of rare” category, such as the motive of the crime, brutality of the crime, and the personality of the offender. The judgment has been criticized for its lack of clarity and consistency in the application of the “rarest of rare” doctrine. The Bachan Singh case has been cited in subsequent cases involving the death penalty and has had a significant impact on the jurisprudence of capital punishment in India.

KEYWORDS Death Penalty, Bachan Singh Case, Constitutionality of Death Penalty, Article 21, Rarest to the Rare, Supreme Court