A murder committed due to deeply-seated mutual and personal rivalry may not call for the death penalty. However, organized crime or the mass murder of innocent people should warrant a death sentence to deter similar crimes. This perspective was observed in SCC p. 82, para 6.

It would be a mockery of justice to permit the accused to escape the extreme penalty of the law when faced with such evidence and cruel acts. To give a lesser punishment to the accused would render the justice system of the country suspect. The common man would lose faith in the courts. In such cases, he understands and appreciates the language of deterrence more than the reformative jargon.

Therefore, undue sympathy resulting in an inadequate sentence would do more harm to the justice system and undermine public confidence in the efficacy of the law. Society could not long endure such serious threats. It is, therefore, the duty of every court to award a proper sentence, having regard to the nature of the offense and the manner in which it was executed or committed, etc. This position was illuminatingly stated by the Supreme Court in Sevaka Perumal vs. State of T.N.

Criminal Law generally adheres to the principle of proportionality in prescribing liability according to the culpability of each kind of criminal conduct. It ordinarily allows some significant discretion to the judge in arriving at a sentence in each case, presumably to permit sentences that reflect more subtle considerations of culpability raised by the special facts of each case. Judges, in essence, affirm that punishment ought always to fit the crime, yet in practice, sentences are determined largely by other considerations.

Sometimes, it is the correctional needs of the perpetrator that are offered to justify a sentence, sometimes the desirability of keeping him out of circulation, and sometimes even the tragic results of his crime. Inevitably, these considerations cause a departure from 'just deserts' as the basis for punishment and create cases of apparent injustice that are serious and widespread.