1977 (5) TMI 84

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....he laws, are not always just and the lights are not always luminous. Nor, again, are judicial methods always adequate to secure justice. We are bound by the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, by the, very oath of our office. Section 354(3) of the new Code gives the convicting judge, on a murder charge, a discretion to choose between capital sentence and life term. It is true that in the present Code, the unmistakable shift in legislative emphasis is on life imprisonment for murder as the rule and capital sentence an exception, to be resorted to for reasons to be stated (Edige Annamma, 1974 SC 799, AIR). Even so, the discretion is limited and courts can never afford to forget Benjamin' Cardozo's wise guidance: "T....

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....y the trial Court and it is difficult to fault that court on any ground, statutory or precedential, an appellate review and even referral action become too narrow to demolish the discretionary exercise of power by the inferior court. So viewed, it is clear that the learned Judicial Commissioner has acted rightly in affirming the death sentence. We are unable to, grant leave on, this score either. Counsel for the petitioner has urged that the affirmation by the Judicial Commissioner's court of Goa, Diu and Daman, of the Death sentence is illegal. According to. him s. 377 of the old code (which govern the instant case), is a missile which will bit down the confirmation by the Judicial Commissioner. The said section reads: "377....

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....earing the matter of such gravity as a death sentence involves is because of the law's grave concern that human life shall not be judicially deprived unless at least two minds at almost the highest level are applied. Even so, exceptional situations may arise where two judges are not available in a High Court and, in that narrow contingency, the Code permits what has now happened. We cannot fault the judgment on this ground either. Counsel for the petitioner contends that the Criminal Procedure Code is a general statute but the Goa, Daman and Diu (Judicial Commissioners Court) Regulation, 1963 is a special law which prevails against the general. On that footing he argues that under Regulation, 8 (1) the Court of the Judicial Commissio....