Kidnapping cases have increased in the past. Some kidnapped persons are released after paying ransom, and what happens to the rest, nobody really knows. The question that should kidnappers be awarded capital punishment is often asked by an outraged citizenry with increasing frequency as more and more kidnappings and abductions continue to take place in the country. As the number of unresolved cases grows, the demand for death penalty too acquires greater intensity. In law there is a provision which provides death penalty for those who kidnap and demand ransom. On May 22, 1993, Parliament adopted a bill strengthening the existing laws on kidnapping. The new law made kidnapping for ransom a crime punishable with death or life imprisonment. Earlier, there were no separate provisions for dealing with kidnapping for ransom. Abduction was punishable by a 10-year sentence or fine.
According to Section 364(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), “whoever kidnaps or abducts any person or keeps a person in detention after such kidnapping or abduction and threatens to cause death or hurt, or causes hurt or death to such person in order to compel the government or any other person to do or abstain from doing any act or to pay a ransom shall be punishable with death or imprisonment for life and shall be liable to fine.”
In addition to this amendment, a new section has also been added to Section 39 of the Criminal Procedure Code which specifically deals with persons who associate themselves with kidnappers or are aware of the crime. The Code makes it clear that “every person aware of the commission of, or of the intention of any other person to commit any offence punishable under any other section of the IPC, shall be in the absence of any reasonable excuse, the burden of proving which excuse shall lie upon the person so aware, forthwith give information to any of the nearest magistrate or indulging police officer of such commission or such intention.”
The argument that death penalty alone is the answer is person scoffed at by sociologists. So far, the judges have awarded kidnappers death penalty in rarest of rare cases. Normally the death sentence is given to a person who commits a gruesome murder. Even in such cases normally life imprisonment is the maximum punishment.
Even after the cases are solved by the police, it takes anywhere between five to ten years for a verdict. Many times, kidnappers are let off on bail and they intimidate the victims to remain silent. Many terrorized victims then withdraw cases as well. On the other hand, those who feel that death penalty is the only answer for cases relating to kidnapping for ransom feel that even one death sentence will send a signal to potential kidnappers. The concept of death penalty, even though legal, is rarely put into practice. On the other hand, the redressed system for legal justice is weak and very time consuming. Death penalty and dispensation of quicker justice by the judicial system should send a powerful message to kidnappers who are out to make quick money.