Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urgently requests you to intervene in the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, whose execution date has been set for 4am tomorrow, 14 August 2004.
The Constitution of India establishes that, No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. The Supreme Court rejected the petition seeking a stay on the execution filed by Bikas Chatterjee, brother of the sentenced man on August 12, for the reason that his appeal for clemency to the President of India had already been rejected on August 2.
In declining to use its powers to review the death sentence of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, the Supreme Court of India has not only declined to take responsibility for the life that it has condemned, but also the principles which it ought to be representing. While precedents exist for the Supreme Court to commute a death sentence on the ground that the convicted person has already been punished enough due to an unreasonable delay in carrying out the sentence, and attendant suffering, they have not been applied in Chatterjees case. The former Supreme Court Justice V R Krishna Iyer may have had these precedentsand the higher values they representin mind when he too appealed to the Court to overturn the sentence in this case.
Furthermore, the 13 years that Dhananjoy Chatterjee spent in solitary confinement amount to cruel and inhuman treatment, in violation of the international Convention against Torture. India is also yet to ratify this instrument, on the spurious claim that the protection afforded by the Convention already exists in domestic law; were that the case, Dhananjoy Chatterjee would not be facing imminent execution tomorrow morning.
Just a few days ago prosecutors in the United States freed the 115th person condemned to death there, having finally proven his innocence on the basis of DNA testing. No DNA test has ever been conducted to prove the guilt of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, nor does the Supreme Court of India seem to feel that this standard of evidence is necessary to execute a man in India. A poor man who could not afford to engage good lawyers, the case against Chatterjee was decided on circumstantial evidence.
AHRC is greatly concerned that the Indian justice system is regressing into feudal practices of retributive punishment delivered by the rich and powerful against the poor and defenceless. Irrespective of what they have been accused, let alone the extenuating circumstances in this case, a condemned person deserves our defence. Your immediate action is required to urge the Government of India to spare the life of Dhananjoy Chatterjee and ensure that justice is served.
For our previous appeals on this case, please see
UA-78-2004: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2004/715/
UA-43-2004: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2004/756/
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please make a phone call or send a letter, fax or email to the following addresses expressing your concern at the imminent execution of Dhananjoy Chatterjee.
1. Mr. Justice S S Rajendra Babu
Chief Justice of India
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi 110001
INDIA
2. Shri. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,
President of India,
Rashtrapathi Bhavan,
New Delhi -110001
INIDA
Tel: +91 11 23015321
Fax: + 91 11 23017290 / 23017824
E-mail: presidentofindia@rb.nic.in
3. Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharyya
Chief Minister and Home Minister of West Bengal
Writers Buildings, Kolkata-1,
West Bengal
INDIA
Fax: +91-33-2214 5480
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear
Re: Refusal of Supreme Courth to reconsider death sentence of Mr. Dhananjoy Chatterjee
I am gravely concerned at learning of the imminent execution of Mr. Dhananjoy Chatterjee, set for 14 August 2004.
Since Chatterjees conviction for rape and murder in August 1991, and despite many appeals on his behalf, this inhumane sentence has not been commuted, nor has any mercy been shown to him. He is reported to have been kept in solitary confinement throughout this period, which is itself a horrendous form of physical and mental punishment that amounts to a violation of the UN Convention against Torture, to which India is a signatory.
What is at stake here is the right to life, that most precious and pure of all human rights. The death penalty is no substitute for the life that has already been taken. A criminal justice system implementing the death penalty is uncivilised. A government claiming to stand for the protection and promotion of human rights cannot also stand in favour of killing its citizens, irrespective of their crimes.
Just a few days ago prosecutors in the United States freed the 115th person condemned to death there, having finally proven his innocence on the basis of DNA testing. No DNA test has ever been conducted to prove the guilt of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, nor does the Supreme Court of India seem to feel that this standard of evidence is necessary to execute a man in India. A poor man who could not afford to engage good lawyers, the case against Chatterjee was decided on circumstantial evidence.
Furthermore, while precedents exist for the Supreme Court to commute a death sentence on the ground that the convicted person has already been punished enough due to an unreasonable delay in carrying out the sentence, and attendant suffering, they have not been applied in Chatterjees case.
I therefore request you to take immediate steps to stay Mr. Chatterjee's execution, and ensure that his sentence be reduced to a lesser punishment in accordance with the spirit of humanity and good conscience. I also urge you to ensure that India ratifies the Convention against Torture and the Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits the death penalty, at the earliest time.
Thanking you
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
