1) Heinous crimes like murder, are punishable with punishment in jail for life or by death.
2) The section does not say when to give life imprisionment and when to give death. Therefore Supreme Court has laid down law and defined category of "Rarest of Rare" Crime, and has said that death sentence be given in Rarest of Rare crime. In all other cases of murders, life imprisonment.
3) There is no fix definition of what is Rarest of Rare Crime. But in brief, such crimes are those which shock the conscience of society as a whole.
4) If trial court grants death sentence, then case is deeply examined by High Court. And then High Court judgement is examined by Supreme Court to eliminate chances of human error.
5) The President and The Governors have power to commute death penalty into life imprisonment. But they are also bound to follow some norms.
Haresh Raichura
29/7/2015
