After DMK, PDP, CPM says no to death penalty

The CPM on Monday became the first national-level political party to seek abolition of the "arbitrarily implemented" death penalty in India, advocating an indefinite jail term in the rarest of the rare cases.

The CPM on Monday became the first national-level political party to seek abolition of the "arbitrarily implemented" death penalty in India, advocating an indefinite jail term in the rarest of the rare cases.

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The CPM joins the DMK in Tamil Nadu and the PDP in J&K that have argued that India join 97 countries that have already abolished death penalty.

CPM has been debating the issue since last year. The manner in which Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was executed, however, appears to have been the clincher.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said Afzal Guru was denied the right to appeal provided in the law after the mercy petition was rejected.

"Afzal was denied this opportunity and his family was not informed also," he said, briefing reporters about the decisions taken at the party's central committee meeting.