 bill no 96 of   2009 the  abolition  of  death  penalty  to  women,  children  and indigent  persons  bill,  2009 byshri adhir ranjan chowdhury,  mpa billto abolish death penalty to women, children and indigent personsbe it enacted by parliament in the sixtieth year of  the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the abolition of death penalty to women, children andindigent persons act, 2009short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india5(3) it shall come into force at oncedefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise provides,—(i) ''child'' means any person who has not completed the age of fifteen years;5(ii) "death penalty" means a sentence of death in any form passed by a court of law or any other authority including the village courts or district councils or regional councils or sentence of death passed by village panchayats or sabhas, tribal sabhas or heads of villages or tribes, whether having legal authority or not, in accordance with personal law, custom or usage and includes death penalty for practicing witchcraft; and(iii) "indigent person" means and includes any person who has attained the age of sixty years and is suffering from any incurable disease or is mentally retarded45 of 1860103 notwithstanding anything contained in the indian penal code, 1860 or any other law for the time being in force or custom or  usage  in practice in india, death penalty shall not be awarded to any woman or child or any indigent person, notwithstanding the nature of crime committed or caused to be committed and abetted or caused to be abetted by such woman or child or indigent personsdeath sentence not to be awarded to women, children andindigentpersons punishment154 any person or persons violating the provisions of this act shall be punished withrigorous imprisonment for a term not less than ten years and also with fine of rupees one lakh statement of objects and reasonsit has been observed that vulnerable sections of the society, the women, the children and the indigent persons continue to be the subject of exploitation, including sexual exploitation and abuse and are often placed in such circumstances wherein they are liable to commit crimes attracting severe penalties including death penalty various customary,  religious as well as tribal laws often provide for death penalties for offences like "adultery" and practicing "witchcraft"a circumstance or situation can hardly be conceived when the persons belonging to weaker sex, the children or the indigent persons would commit such a crime without enough provocation as to attract the death penaltymany  cases have come to light where women, children or indigent persons have been sentenced to death it would only be proper to abolish death penalty for such vulnerable sectionshence this billnew delhi;adhir ranjan chowdhurynovember 3, 2009————abillto abolish death penalty to women, children and indigent persons————(shri adhir ranjan chowdhury, mp)