Read Time: 06 minutes

Justice BV Nagarathna of the Supreme Court of India yesterday said that there is often an outcry for awarding death penalty to convicts, in cases of rape and sexual assault against children.

She said, “A judge would think 100 times before giving death penalty to convicts and many a times it results in acquittal. Therefore there cannot be a uniform, straight jacket rule of sentencing.” She said, “As to what is a rarest of rare case depends on the judge.”

She was speaking at an event organised by ILS Law College, Pune on the topic, “The Constitutional and Legal Philosophy of Chief Justice Y.V. Chandrachud”.

Justice Y.V. Chandrachud is the former Chief Justice of India. Justice Nagarathna made the above observation while speaking of a judgment delivered by Justice YV Chandrachud in Bachan Singh Vs State of Punjab where it was held death penalty should be given in rarest of rare case.

Justice Nagarathna spoke of how Justice YV Chandrachud was a specialist in both civil and criminal which is a rarity now among practicing lawyers.

She said that the then Chief Justice of India, Y.V. Chandrachud was a very unassuming person and reminisced, “I still remember at any social gathering Justice YV Chandrachud would walk up to me and greet him. He would not expect anybody to greet him.”

Speaking of judgments delivered by him, she said that Chief Justice Chandrachud was a torchbearer of a generation and possessed the traits of a true constitutional soldier.

She said, “Justice YV  Chandrachud had no hesitation to thwart attempts calculated to destroy the rule of law."

Justice Nagarathna spoke of how Chief Justice Chandrachud laid down the principle of awarding cash compensation to people whose fundamental rights were violated in Rudal Shah Vs State of Bihar.

Speaking of ADM Jabalpur Vs Shivkant Shukla (the habeas corpus judgment), she said despite Chief Justice Chandrachud’s attempts to publicly apologise for it, he could not revise his position.

She added that the judgment was subsequently overruled by his son, sitting judge of the Supreme Court, Justice DY Chandrachud in the year 2017.

She recollected Justice DY Chandrachud saying, “I think my father would agree with the ruling. I have always had this feeling that through his life, he believed he was wrong in the ADM Jabalpur case. I think he would’ve done it differently (had the circumstances been different).”

At the event, the management of ILS Law College presented Justice Nagarathna with her father Chief Justice ES Venkatramiah’s admission form. It is to be noted that Chief Justices ES Venkatramiah and YV Chandrachud were both students of ILS Law College.

She said that coming to ILS Law college was like a pilgrimage to her. She recollected, “When Justice YV Chandrachud was the CJI, he identified and appointed my father Justice ES Venkatramiah to the Supreme Court.”