principles laid down in Bachan Singh (supra) and have also taken forward the application of the principles to reduce such inconsistencies. In Santosh Bariyar (supra), the Court noted the global move away from death penalty and observed: “109. …it is now clear that even the balance sheet of aggravating and mitigating circumstances approach invoked on a case-by-case basis has not worked sufficiently well so as to remove the vice of arbitrariness from our capital sentencing system. It can be safely said that the Bachan Singh threshold of “the rarest of rare cases” has been most variedly and inconsistently applied by the various High Courts as also this Court. 110. At this point we also wish to point out that the uncertainty in the law of capital sentencing has special consequence as the matter relates to death penalty—the gravest penalty arriving out of the exercise of extraordinarily wide sentencing discretion, which is irrevocable in nature. This extremely uneven application of Bachan Singh has given rise to a state of uncertainty in capital sentencing law which clearly falls foul of constitutional due process and equality principle. The situation is unviable as legal discretion which is conferred on the executive or the judiciary is only sustainable in law if there is any indication, either through law or precedent, as to the scope of the discretion and the manner of its exercise. There should also be sufficient clarity having regard to the legitimate aim of the measure in question. The Constitution of India provides for safeguards to give the individual adequate protection against arbitrary imposition of criminal punishment.” 20. In Sangeet v. State of Haryana6 the Court notes that “30. The application of 6 (2013) 2 SCC 452 19 the sentencing policy