The purpose underlying the sentence in criminal law is to punish the offender. A savage sentence is anathema to the civilized jurisprudence of Article 21. The correlation between crime and punishment has always been a subject of perennial concern. Soft sentencing can result in gross injustice, where many innocents are potential victims. One of the constitutional criteria for cruel and unusual treatment or punishment is provided under the Canadian Bill of Rights.

The impossibility of laying down standards is at the very core of criminal law as administered in India, which invests judges with wide discretion in determining the degree of punishment. This discretion regarding sentencing is subject to correction by superior courts. What is punitively outrageous, scandalizing, unusual, or cruel, and rehabilitatively counterproductive is undeniably unreasonable and arbitrary, thus contravening Articles 14 and 19, and any infliction with procedural unfairness falls foul of Article 21.

Written By: S Kundu & Associates
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