The stand taken by the central government before the Supreme Court during the argument in the appeal filed by a convict waiting for capital punishment in the Nirbhaya case is against the spirit of the constitution. The solicitor general informed the court that the patience of the country is put to test by delaying the execution of the convicts in the Nirbhaya case. To corroborate his argument he cited the way the country celebrated when the accused in the rape case of a lady doctor in Hyderabad was shot dead by the police. The undue delay in the execution would result in the erosion of the trust in the legal system among people, he pointed out.

The attitude of the central government expressed in the court is obviously to quench the emotional craving that prevails in the matter rather than upholding the sacred values the constitution stands for. It amounts to a gesture that acknowledges the animal instinct of taking revenge, which is not acceptable in a civilized society. Carried away by emotional reasons in any manner in a democracy, particularly in the matters that come for judicial scrutiny is a potential danger to the democracy itself.

The kind of exercise going on in the Nirbhaya case which results in the delay of the execution of the convicts in fact reveals the sanctity of our judicial process, and it highlights the value being attached to the life a human being which is the core factors that lend magnanimity to our constitution and the legal system.