Demons and Demigods: Death Penalty in India

The capital punishment is a subject of great debate not only in India, but also across the world. While some countries have abolished this practice terming it inhuman and degrading, others have retained it as a means of deterrence. In India, the death penalty continues to be in practice.

The author in this book argues that the death penalty be abolished in India. She strengthens her argument with the help of a personal narrative recounting her experience as a lawyer in arguing a case in the Supreme Court, in which four young men had been sentenced to death by the trial court. The sentence of death delivered by the trial court was upheld by the Bombay High Court. The author, however, along with her senior successfully defended the accused in the Supreme Court, and got their death penalty converted to life imprisonment. To further supplement her position against the death penalty, the author critically analyses the landmark cases, which have shaped the law on the capital punishment in India, and interprets the views of experts on the subject. She also examines a few foreign jurisdictions, and provides a comparative perspective on the issue of the death penalty.

• Personal narrative of the author supporting abolition of the death penalty
• Comparatively analyses foreign jurisdictions favouring the death penalty
• Analyses leading Indian cases on the death penalty: Bachan Singh, Machchi Singh, Swamy Shraddananda, Dhananjoy Chatterjee, the Mumbai Bomb Blasts
• Examines recent Supreme Court rulings on the death penalty: Ajmal Kasab, Afzal Guru, and Yakub Memon
• Quotes eminent jurists on death penalty
• Explains for lay readers procedural and substantive aspects of trial in the death penalty cases

Table of Contents:

1. The Case of the Four Boys
2. Bachan Singh
3. Machchi Singh
4. Swamy Shraddananda
5. Dhananjoy Chatterjee
6. The Mumbai Bomb Blasts
7. Law is Not Mathematics
8. Bodies on the Hillock
9. Guns, Knives, and Swords
10. At the Supreme Court
11. Burning the Midnight Oil
12. Finding Flaws and Loopholes
13. No Eyewitnesses, My Lords!
14. The Star Witnesses
15. Other Witnesses
16. Skulls and Bones
17. The Final Lap
18. The Final Lap II
19. The Judgment
20. Afterwards
21. The Abolition of the Death Penalty: Global Perspectives
22. Death Penalty Creates No Deterrence: Hard Facts
23. Food for Thought