Chennai: In consideration of her party's strong views against death penalty, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi has decided to move a Private Members Bill in the Parliament to abolish capital punishment.
In a statement, she said DMK has opposed death penalty in all cases and favours the immediate abolition of this practice. The statement read, “The party’s 2014 Conference in Tiruchi resolved to abolish death penalty as did the manifesto for Lok Sabha elections that year. We will work towards removing death penalty from statute books. In the upcoming session of Parliament, I will move a Private Members Resolution and Private Members Bill to abolish death penalty.”
“The Law Commission of India is currently holding consultation on this issue. Until the recommendations of the Law Commission are debated in Parliament, we urge the government to issue a moratorium on using death penalty. We also request the President to not process mercy petitions until this issue is settled,” she said. Kanimozhi also pointed out the rising frequency in capital punishment exercised by the country, given Yakub Memon was the third person to be executed in the last three years.
