Death penalty is not open ended that can be challenged all the time by condemned prisoners: SC

Observing that the "finality" of death sentence is extremely important, the Supreme Court on Thursday said condemned prisoners should not be under the impression that the death penalty remains "open ended" and can be challenged all the time by them.

In remarks that came against the backdrop of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape-murder case filing one petition after another leading to the delay in their hanging, the court stressed it has to act as per law and judges also have a duty towards the society and the victims to deliver justice.

The observations were made by a bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices S A Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna while hearing the review pleas of a woman and her lover for killing seven members of her family including parents, two brothers and their wives and strangulating her 10-month-old nephew in Uttar Pradesh in 2008.

The bench reserved its verdict on their review pleas against its 2015 judgement upholding the death penalty to the two convicts.

"One cannot go on fighting endlessly for everything," it said.

"The finality of death sentence is extremely important and a condemned prisoner should not be under the impression, that the death sentence remains open ended and can be questioned by them all the time."
"We do not like to emphasise only on the life and death penalty of an accused, especially when lives of seven people have been snuffed out in the present case," the bench said, adding "The most important thing that we consider is sentencing should be proportionate to the crime."
"It is not the judge but the law that deals with a criminal. A judge, being a human being, cannot forgive a murderer. The law and the judge act for the society. Imagine a situation when a judge tells a murderer 'oh yes, I forgive you!'. Imagine the impact."