Kinds of punishment 3.5Capital punishment

After a conviction the judge does not simply pick a number of years. The law hands over a short menu: the gallows, prison for life, prison for a term, loss of property, a fine, or now unpaid work for the community. Each item carries a different meaning for the offender and for society. This topic walks through the menu in section 4 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and then stays with the heaviest item, the death penalty, which the syllabus lists separately as 3.5.

In two minutes

Section 4 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 lists six punishments: death, imprisonment for life, imprisonment (rigorous or simple), forfeiture of property, fine and community service; death is confined by the Supreme Court to the rarest of rare cases, must be confirmed by the High Court, and can be met by mercy or commutation.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Criminology and Penology on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.