Supreme Court substitutes death penalty with a “special category” of prolonged life imprisonment

Supreme Court opted for a ‘Judicial Innovation’, instead of going by death penalty where girl child was raped and subsequently murdered. This judicial innovation was formalized by a Constitution bench of Supreme Court in Rajiv Gandhi killer’s case i.e. Shraddananda versus State of Karnataka, in 2008.
The innovation substitutes death penalty with a special category of life imprisonment where no benefit of remission is given for prolonged periods ranging from 25 to 30 years. This approach helped the accused, Tattu Lodhi to cheat the noose on Friday. Justice S.K. Singh, remarked that this approach needs to be taken only in special cases and observed:
“It is an endeavor by the apex court to make no party (convict or the society) a loser. The judicial innovation bridges the gap between death sentence on the one extreme and only 14 years of actual imprisonment in the name of life imprisonment on the other… it serves a laudable purpose ” .
Justice B.S. Chauhan, Chairperson of Law Commission of India appreciated the judgment saying that an “alternative” to capital punishment has indeed been found.