Priyadarshini Mattoo’s rapist/murderer, Santosh K Singh, has been sentenced to death.

Now that Delhi HC has passed this judgment, let the debate on the appropriateness of the death penalty, begin once again.That debate was polluting the debate shouting match on the issue of clemency to Afzal Guru.

Personally, I feel that the “rarest of rare” circumstances, under which death penalty is awarded, should actually be rarest of rare. They are becoming just a bit too regular or commonplace for my liking these days. But I would be wary of any attempts to define what circumstances qualify to be called “rarest of rare”.