The entire nation is involved in a debate about whether the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon should be hanged or not. There are many who still say that hanging or any sort of capital punishment should be abolished in our country but according to me it should exist. In India, the capital punishment is awarded only in the “rarest of rare cases” and after meticulous investigations. The verdict reaches a conclusion after considering all deliberations and arguments. Take the very latest case and just see how many petitions are being filed and re-filed in respect of mercy petition to be considered, reviewed and disposed of. The accused is given several opportunities to seek mercy. Above all, we do not have the barbaric or cruel way of carrying out a capital punishment like stoning, beheading or whipping in public and so on. Hence the death penalty is an ideal mechanism to deter criminals.
The anti-capital punishment group should think of the trauma and sufferings the victim and his/her families have undergone. As a friend of mine says, “Those who do not adhere to the tenets of humanism deserve no quarter. The death sentence should never be abolished”.
Ajmal Kasab the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused was offered several amenities and a lawyer to defend. He was given shelter and food in the jail and above all the tax payers money was being spent on his “well being” and security. The legal process took over five years and later he was hanged. Take the case of criminals involved in the brutal Delhi gang rape who are yet to be hanged though languishing in jail and the “juvenile criminal” who will be out very soon! The death sentence of Surender Koli, convicted in 2006 Nithari serial killings case, was commuted to life imprisonment by the Allahabad high court on the ground of “inordinate delay” in deciding his mercy petition.
Just imagine the plight of all those victims, their kith and kin and friends who are still to come out of the trauma. Parag Sawant who was injured in the 7/11 serial blasts in Mumbai died few days back after being in coma for several years. So no mercy at all to the perpetrators of such heinous crimes!
It should not be forgotten that India has a very hostile neighbour, and their sole intention is to unleash terror on our people. In such cases, if those terrorists are caught for their dastardly acts, the only penalty they deserve is death by hanging. Justice will seem to be done only if such hardcore criminals are awarded capital punishment and executed too.
(The views expressed by the author are his own)
Krishna Kumar
