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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

India: Supreme Court Commutes Death Sentence of Police Constable

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July 2, 2014: the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence awarded to a police constable for murdering his wife and two daughters to life imprisonment with a direction that the convict must spend at least 30 years behind the bars.

A bench of Justices Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya and Dipak Misra commuted the death sentence given to Amar Singh Yadav and said the capital punishment in the case was unwarranted as the case did not fall in the "rarest of the rare" category.

According to the prosecution, Amar Singh Yadav, had developed illicit relationship with two other women, which resulted in Yadav fighting regularly with his wife. One day, he took his wife and four children in a van on the pretext of shopping and set the vehicle ablaze with intention of burning all occupants. His wife and her two daughters succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

The sessions court had held Yadav guilty of the offences and sentenced him to death. The Allahabad High Court upheld the conviction and the death sentence of Yadav.

The apex court, while commuting the death sentence, said “there is no reason to believe that the accused cannot be reformed or rehabilitated.”

Source: PTI, July 2, 2014
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