On 25/1/2011, Yashwant Sonawane, Additional District Collector of Malegaon, was burnt to death by oil mafia criminals in Panewadi, near Manmad in Nashik District. The death could have been avoided if India had death penalty for every murder and had hanged all who were sentenced to death. Every death penalty prevents three to eighteen murders as proved in an article in Newsweek some years back.
There are evil people who call themselves human rights activists and oppose death penalty. For them murderers are human beings, victims are not.
Since 1980, as per Supreme Court judgment, death penalty is given in rarest of rare case. On 21/1/2011 Supreme Court did not award death penalty to Dara Singh who had burnt to death Graham Staines, Philip Staines and Timothy Staines on the night of 22-23 January 1999 as per CBI appeal but upheld life sentence awarded by Orissa High Court which had overruled the lower court that had awarded death penalty. Arnab Goswami of Times Now said if this is not a rarest of rare case I do not know what a rarest of rare case is. Four days later Yashwant Sonawane was burnt to death.
Few people who have been sentenced to death over the years have not been hanged as presidents of India after Shankar Dayal Sharma have refused to reject mercy petitions except in one case by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Pratibha Patil has refused to reject mercy petitions even when the murderer has murdered a dozen or more people including children. Murderers in India have lost fear and commit murders openly. They know they don’t have to pay with their lives for murder.