Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated December 9, 1955: Death penalty

A document unearthed from the old records of the East India Company reveals that certain officials of the Company were opposed to any indiscriminate death penalty being imposed on Indians after the 1857 uprising. A letter of the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, addressed to the Governor-General of India, dated March 28, 1858, says: "Death has of late been too common a punishment. It loses whatever terror it might otherwise have when so indiscriminately applied." This letter points out that "in fact, in India there is not commonly a fear of death, although there must be a fear of pain." Subsequent correspondence shows the letter had its effect and the death penalty for rebels became less common.

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