There is need for a high-level commission comprising former Chief Justices to examine death penalty as a deterrent and its validity as punishment, said Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, today.
"The last words of those who were hung could be the first words for such a commission to study," said Gandhi.
He was delivering the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad memorial lecture 2013 here on the theme "Last Words: As Those at Death's Door Speak" organised by Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was India's first Education Minister.
"I believe only good would result if the President of India were to appoint a truly high-level commission, comprising former Chief Justices and eminent personages from outside the the law to examine with reference to world trends, the utility of the death sentence as a deterrent and its validity as a punishment as distinct from revenge," said Gandhi.
Sprinkled with references of personalities spanning ages and historical periods, Gandhi, with the help of a slide projector displaying pictures and photographers, spoke about the dying words of personalities spanning former US President Robert Kennedy, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstien and Laurel of the Laurel and Hardy comedian fame, Sarojini Naidu and Mohammed Ali Jinnah among others.
"States executing people for individual crimes can, with a little twist, execute people with intentions that go beyond the ends of criminal justice," Gandhi said.
The Indian scaffold lies on the parapet of the Executive and the Judiciary, said Gandhi who pointed out that the President can address the appeal for clemency aided and advised by the Council of Ministers.
