The Home Minister has said, there is no proposal to consider the abolition of capital punishment at present. Replying to supplementaries during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha today, Mr. P. Chidambaram said, either the President or the Governor of any state can consider commutation of the death sentence of a convict through a mercy petition. He said, a large number of countries have abolished the capital punishment. He said, in India, death sentence is awarded only in rarest of rare cases. Mr Chidambaram said, the government will look into the alleged abuse and misuse of parole provisions by rich and influential people. The Minister said, his Ministry will issue an advisory to the state governments in this regard.

Replying to the main question whether the government is planning to amend the relevant sections of Cr PC to fix term of life imprisonment following Supreme Court judgment, the Home Minister said, there is no strong ground to
amend the Sections 433 and 433(A) at present. He said, the government can amend or enact any legislation only when the Law Commission or any body makes such kind of suggestion.