Peoples Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR) is concerned that close on the heels of the Supreme Court’s judgment of 21st January 2014, whereby the Court had commuted the death sentences of 15 convicts to life imprisonment, the Delhi High Court and the Mumbai Sessions Court, have in two significant judgements delivered separately have chosen to uphold the death penalty as punishment for rape in both the 16 December 2012 rape and murder case and the Shakti mills rape case of 22 August 2013.

Peoples Union for Democratic Rights condemns the killing of Sai Reddy, a correspondent of  Deshbandhu, a Hindi newspaper, based in Bijapur in south Bastar, Chhattisgarh  on December 6, 2013. In a statement issued on December 10, 2013, the South Regional Committee of CPI(Maoist) claimed that  Sai Reddy had “played an active role against the people’s movement in Basaguda and Usur areas over last two decades”, and therefore was condemned to death.

The judgment on the16th December 2012 Delhi gang rape case awarding death penalty to all four accused seems to have brought finality to the cries for justice. While this judgment is found to be in consonance with the majority’s demand, PUDR yet again reaffirms its stand on the futility of capital punishment.

Six cases of encounters in Gadchiroli district have been reported in the press this year. A total of 26 persons have lost their lives in these encounters. People from the villages where the encounters took place have questioned the veracity of the police claims.

PUDR strongly denounces the Supreme Court’s dismissal this morning of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar’s plea for commutation of the death sentence awarded to him to life. The issues at stake in this dismissal are multiple, that of clemency, death penalty, miscarriage of justice and precedence.