Those who have been advocating that ‘capital punishment’ should be completely taken off the statute must be disappointed by the judgement of the Supreme Court in ‘Khushwinder Singh vs. State of Punjab’ case. The Court reiterated that the death sentence will continue to remain valid in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases. In the previous piece of the Judicial Panorama, it was discussed how the six innocent persons, who were waiting to be hanged were acquitted because they were falsely implicated by the Police.
In this case, the court has said that anything less than the death sentence will be an injustice. The case of the prosecution is that one Jasmeen Kaur who was married to Rupinder Singh in the year 2005. They had two children from their marriage. However, the atmosphere in the family of Jasmeen’s in-laws was not good. So, she started living along with her husband and children at her natal place. Her brother was a drunkard. Jasmeen was approached by Manjit Kaur, wife of the accused Khushwinder Singh, who is the daughter of her maternal uncle. Khushwinder, the accused informed the family of Jasmeen that he knew one ‘Baba’ (holy man) who can make a person get rid of the habit of drinking permanently.
The accused further informed that he also knew one travel agent, who could send her husband, Rupinder Singh to Canada. The accused demanded Rs Two Lakh as initial expenses. He also informed that the remaining amount of Rs. 14 lakhs was to be paid on getting the visa. Thereupon, the family of the complainant pledged their gold ornaments with the goldsmith and borrowed money. The accused further informed that he had also got in touch with ‘Baba’ (holy man) to enable Gurinder Singh to give up his habit of drinking and, for that purpose, they would have to offer “Dhala” (offering certain pulses, rice et