The West Bengal Legislative assembly passed Aparajita Woman and Child Bill, 2024 today.
Section 66, as amended by Section 6 of the Aparajitha Bill, will read as follows: 66. Whoever, commits an offence punishable under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 64 and in the course of such commission inflicts an injury which causes the death of the woman or causes the woman to be in a persistent vegetative state, shall be punished with death.
This makes it a mandatory death sentence provision like Section 303 of the Indian Penal Code,1860 and Section 27(3) of the Arms Act, 1959. Thus it is obvious that Section 6 which amends the Section 66 BNS will meet the same fate of these provisions, if it becomes a law.
Section 303 IPC read as follows: Whoever, being under sentence of imprisonment for life, commits murder, shall be punished with death. This was struck down by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Mithu vs. State of Punjab – (1983) 2 SCC 277. It was held that the sentence of death, prescribed by Section 303 of IPC for the offence of murder committed by a person who is under a sentence of life imprisonment is a savage sentence and this Court held that the same is arbitrary and oppressive being violative of Articles 21 and 14 of the Constitution. “The legislature cannot make relevant circumstances irrelevant, deprive the courts of their legitimate jurisdiction to exercise their discretion not to impose the death sentence in appropriate cases, compel them to shut their eyes to mitigating circumstances and inflict upon them the dubious and unconscionable duty of imposing a preordained sentence of death.”, it was observed.
Section 27(3) Arms Act read as follows: (3) Whoever uses any prohibited arms or prohibited ammunition or does any act in contravention of section 7 and such use or act results in the death of any other person, shall be punishable with death. This was struck down by the Supreme Court in State Of Punjab vs Dalbir Singh [2012] 4 S.C.R. 608. It was observed that mandatory death penalty has been found to be constitutionally invalid in various jurisdictions where there is an independent judiciary and the rights of the citizens are protected in a Constitution.