Bhopal: Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily
has said that the Centre was working on finalising a uniform
sentencing policy.
"We are working on a uniform sentencing policy," Moily
told reporters here.
The proposed policy will ensure that judges do not hand
down different sentences on the same crime but follow the
standards laid down in it, he said.
"We are working on the uniform sentencing policy which is
on the lines of the ones in place in United States and the
United Kingdom," Moily told reporters here on Saturday.
"The draft for uniform sentencing is in its final stages
and the ministry will place it before the Cabinet soon," he
added.
On whether the policy was being framed following Supreme
Court's decision to reduce the death sentence of the accused
to life imprisonment in the Priyadarshni Mattoo rape and
murder case, he replied in the negative.
"Work on this policy had begun long back," he added.
Moily, however, refused to comment on the Apex Court's
verdict in the Priyadarshni Mattoo case.
"How can I comment on the judgement of the Supreme
Court?" he asked.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, October 10, 2010, 20:39