" Examining whether life imprisonment was an adequate substitute for death penalty, the Court observed: "In the context of our criminal law which punishes murder, one cannot ignore the fact that life imprisonment works out in most cases to a dozen years of punishment, and it may be seriously questioned whether that sole alter 199 native will be an adequate substitute for the death penalty." In Ediga Anamma vs State of Andhra Pradesh,(1) V.R. Krishna Iyer, J., speaking for the Bench to which one of us (Sarkaria, J.,) was a party, observed that "deterrence through threat of death may still be a promising strategy in some frightful areas of murderous crime." It was further observed that "horrendous features of the crime and the hapless and helpness state of the victim steel the heart of law for the sterner sentence." In Shiv Mohan Singh vs State (Delhi Administration),(2) the same learned Judge, speaking for the Court, reiterated the deterrent effect of death penalty by referring to his earlier judgment in Ediga Annamma 's case, as follows: "In Ediga Annamma this Court, while noticing the social and personel circumstances possessing an extenuating impact, has equally clearly highlighted that in India under present conditions deterrence through death penalty may not be a time barred punishment in some frightful areas of barbarous murder." Again, in Charles Sobraj vs The Superintendent, Central Jail, Tihar, New Delhi,(3) the same learned Judge, speaking for a Bench of three learned Judges of this Court, reiterated that deterrence was one of the vital considerations of punishment.