The relevant provision of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (which replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973) requires that special reasons shall be recorded while awarding

Under section 393(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly section 354(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973), where the conviction is for an offence punishable with death or alternatively with imprisonment for life or for a term of years, the judgment must state the reasons for the sentence and, for a sentence of death, the special reasons for it. Life imprisonment is the rule and death the exception, as Bachan Singh v State of Punjab (1980) held, so special reasons are required only for the death penalty.