 bill no xliv of 2014 the indian penal code and other laws (amendment)  bill, 2014 a billfurther to amend the indian penal code, 1860, the narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances act, 1985 and the army act, 1950be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-fifth year of the republic of india as follows:—1  (1) this act may be called  the indian penal code and other laws (amendment)act, 2014short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india5(3) it shall come into force with immediate effect45 of 18602 in section 53 of the indian penal code, 1860, the words "first death" shall beomittedamendment of section 53 of act61 of 19853 section 31a of the narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances act, 1985, shallbe omitted10omission of section 31a of act46 of 19504 section 34 of the army act, 1950 shall be omittedomission of section 34 of act statement of objects and reasonsthe death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights it is pre-meditated and cold blooded killing of human being by the state this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is done in the name of justice it violates the right to life enshrined in the constitution as well as in the universal declaration of human rights according to the national crime records bureau, a total of 1455 convicts or an average of 132 convicts per year were given death penalty during 2001 to 2011 during the same period, sentence for 4321 convicts were commuted from death penalty to life imprisonmentsection 53 of the indian penal code provides for death sentence and life imprisonment as alternative punishment under certain circumstances this is not a single offence in the indian penal code which is punishable with mandatory death penalty in section 53 of the indian penal code death sentence sets the upper limit of punitive strategy there is no guidelines as to when capital punishment in preference to imprisonment for life or lesser sentence of life imprisonment be awarded in addition to the indian penal code other laws like the narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances act, 1985 and the army act, 1950 also have similar provisions further, in india the mode of execution of death sentence is by hanging the supreme court in attorney general of india versus lachma devi, air 1980 sc 467 held that hanging even if permitted under rule would violate article 21 of the constitution being barbaric, disgraceful and bringing shame on any civilized society so far ninety-eight countries have already abolished death penalty now, it is the time for india to follow suit by amending related lawsthe bill seeks to abolish the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristic of the offender or the method used by the state to kill the prisonerp rajeeve annexure extracts from the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances act, 1985 (61 of 1985)|               ||----------------|| death          || penalty for    || certain        || offences after || previous       || conviction    |31a (1) notwithstanding anything contained in section 31, if any person who has been convicted of the commission of, or attempt to commit, or abetment of, or criminal conspiracy to commit, any of the offences punishable under  section 19, section 24, section27a and for offences involving commercial quantity of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, is subsequently convicted of the commission of, or attempt to commit, or abetment of, or criminal conspiracy to commit, an offence relating to,—(a) engaging in the production, manufacture, possession, transportation, import into india, export from india or transhipment, of the narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances specified under column (1) of the table below and involving the quantity which is equal to or more than the quantity indicated against each such drug or substance, as specified in column (2) of the said table:| particulars of narcotic drugs/                 | quantity                                  ||------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|| psychotropic substances                        |                                           || (1)                                            | (2)                                       || (i) opium                                      | 10 kgs                                   || (ii) morphine                                  | 1 kg                                     || (iii) heroin                                   | 1 kg                                     || (iv) codeine                                   | 1 kg                                     || (v) thebaine                                   | 1 kg                                     || (vi) cocaine                                   | 500 grams                                 || (vii) hashish                                  | 20 kgs                                   || (viii) any mixture with or without any neutral | lesser of the quantity between            || material of any of the above drugs             | the  quantities    given   against    the || respective narcotic drugs or                   |                                           || psychotropic substances mentioned              |                                           || above forming part of the mixure               |                                           || (ix) lsd, lsd-25(+)-n,n-diethyllysergamide     | 500 grams                                 || (d-lysergic acid diethylamide)                 |                                           || (x) thc tetrahydrocannabinols, the             | 500 grams                                 || following isomers: 6a(10a), 6a(7),             |                                           || 7, 8, 9, 10, 9) and their stereo-              |                                           || chemical variants)                             |                                           || (xi) methamphetamine(+)-2-methyhamine-1-       | 1,500 grams                               || phenylpropane                                  |                                           || (xii) methaqualone (2-methyl-3-o-tolyl-4-(3h)- | 1,500 grams                               || quinazolinon)                                  |                                           |(1)(2)(xiii) amphetamine(+)-2-amino-1-phenylpropane 1,500 grams(xiv) salts and preparations of the psychotropic1,500 grams;substances mentioned in (ix) to (xiii)(b)  financing, directly or indirectly, any of the activities specified in clause "shall be punished with punishment which shall not be less than the punishment specified in section 31 or with death" outside india under any law corresponding to the provisions of section 19, section 24 or section 27a and for offences involving commercial quantity of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance], such person, in respect of such conviction, shall be dealt with for the purposes of sub-section (1) as if he had been convicted by a court in india      extracts from the army act, 1950 (46 of 1950)    34 any person subject to this act who commits any of the following offences, that is to say,—offences in relation to the enemy and punishable with death(a) shamefully abandons or delivers up any garrison, fortress, post, place or guard, committed to his charge, or which it is his duty to defend, or uses any means to compel or induce any commanding officer or other person to commit any of the said acts; or(b) intentionally uses any means to compel or induce any person subject to military, naval or air force law to abstain from acting againt the enemy, or to discourage such person from acting against the enemy; or(c) in the presence of the enemy, shamefully casts away his arms, ammunition, tools or equipment or misbehaves in such manner as to show cowardice; or(d) treacherously holds correspondence with, or communicates intelligence to, the enemy or any person in arms against the union; or(e) directly or indirectly assists the enemy with money, arms, ammunition, stores or supplies; or(f) treacherously or through cowardice sends a flag of truce to the enemy; or (g) in time of war or during any military operation, intentionally occassions a false alarm in action, camp, garrision or quarters, or spreads reports calculated to create alarm or despondency; or(h) in time of action leves his commanding officer or his post, guard, picquet, patrol or party without being regularly relieved or without leave; or(i) having been made a prisoner of war, voluntarily serves with or aids the enemy; or(j) knowingly harbours or protects an enemy not being a prisoner; or (k) being a sentry in time of war or alarm, sleeps upon his post or is intoxicated;or(l) knowingly does any act calculated to imperil the success of the military, naval or air forces of india or any forces co-operating therewith or any part of such forces;shall, on conviction by court-martial be liable to suffer death or such less punishment as is in this act mentioned      extracts from the indian penel code (45 of 1860)     punishments53  the punishments to which offenders are liable under the provision of this code are—first - death; secondly—imprisonment for life;      fourthly—imprisonment, which is of two descriptions, namely : —(1)  regorous, that is, with hard labour; (2)  simple;fifthly - forfeiture of property; sixthly—fine      rajya  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the indian penal code, 1860, the narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances act, 1985 and the army act, 1950————(shri p rajeeve, mp)gmgipmrnd—3808rs(s3)—18122014