New York: India voted against a draft resolution at the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee seeking a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The resolution, moved by Mexico, was supported by 133 countries, while 33 nations, including India, opposed it. Another 16 countries abstained from the vote.
Explaining India’s position at the UN headquarters, Bhavika Mangalanandan, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said there is no international consensus on the issue of capital punishment. She asserted that every sovereign nation has the right to determine its own legal system and the punishments it considers appropriate.
She said capital punishment in India is imposed only in the “rarest of rare” cases, and only after due legal process and extensive safeguards are followed.
India also made it clear that equating a death sentence delivered after a lawful trial with unlawful killings or torture is unacceptable.
The United States, China, Japan, Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia were among the other countries that voted against the resolution. India reiterated that punishments for serious crimes will continue to be implemented within the framework of its laws and through judicial review.