Sunday, July 11, 2004
Capital Punishment is for Humans; for we are Animals.
Barkha Dutt was right on We The People, today, when she said that people, expecially women, have a gut-level reaction favouring capital punshment for criminals committing murder and rape. So do I, but I have arguments to back my gut feeling.
Though the fact that the State has the power to take away life is troubling at some level, I do support the cause for capital punishment. I disagree with the entire concept that we are an enlightened society and that crime and punishment is for animals. We are very much animals, not semi-gods. The ground reality is that what keeps people in check is not spirituality but the dissaproval of society and its dire effects.
Keep the moral indignation aside; think utalitarian. Think in terms of safety. There will be no perfect world nor a perfect path to it. You can harp about reformation, but its extremely hard to change people. Its bad enough that a life sentence in India is no life sentence. Fourteen years, not even one and a half decade. If you don't want to kill a criminal, keep him/her off the streets! Don't take the decision of granting a death-sentence lightly, but if you do, carry it out.
Its a cruel joke if after spending so many years to catch a criminal, to get him convicted, to get to a decision, you are told at the point of execution of justice that he's had enough. The human race is responsible for its own actions , no gods shall intervene, and each human needs to be held responsible for his.
Though the fact that the State has the power to take away life is troubling at some level, I do support the cause for capital punishment. I disagree with the entire concept that we are an enlightened society and that crime and punishment is for animals. We are very much animals, not semi-gods. The ground reality is that what keeps people in check is not spirituality but the dissaproval of society and its dire effects.
Keep the moral indignation aside; think utalitarian. Think in terms of safety. There will be no perfect world nor a perfect path to it. You can harp about reformation, but its extremely hard to change people. Its bad enough that a life sentence in India is no life sentence. Fourteen years, not even one and a half decade. If you don't want to kill a criminal, keep him/her off the streets! Don't take the decision of granting a death-sentence lightly, but if you do, carry it out.
Its a cruel joke if after spending so many years to catch a criminal, to get him convicted, to get to a decision, you are told at the point of execution of justice that he's had enough. The human race is responsible for its own actions , no gods shall intervene, and each human needs to be held responsible for his.
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Something I wrote on another blog on the very same topic..
Death penalty is nothing but Murder by the state. I oppose the death penalty not just for what it does to those guilty of heinous crimes, but for what it does to all of us: it offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life. I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don't think it's human to become an agent of the Angel of Death. To quote Gandhi, "An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind". I do not completely support Gandhi's views but Capital Punishment is not the solution to the problems that our world is facing. The stay order in Dhananjay's caseis not to forgive the criminal ... this stay order is to point out that we are not cold blooded murderer like the criminal was (may be). Hate sin, but not the sinner. Remember that case ... Dara Singh murdered Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons ... but the widow of Staines, Gladys Staines, said she had forgiven the killers (of her husband and two children) and had no bitterness for them. "Forgiveness brings healing and our land needs healing from hatred and violence. Forgiveness and the consequences of the crime should not be mixed up".
Death penalty is nothing but Murder by the state. I oppose the death penalty not just for what it does to those guilty of heinous crimes, but for what it does to all of us: it offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life. I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don't think it's human to become an agent of the Angel of Death. To quote Gandhi, "An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind". I do not completely support Gandhi's views but Capital Punishment is not the solution to the problems that our world is facing. The stay order in Dhananjay's caseis not to forgive the criminal ... this stay order is to point out that we are not cold blooded murderer like the criminal was (may be). Hate sin, but not the sinner. Remember that case ... Dara Singh murdered Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons ... but the widow of Staines, Gladys Staines, said she had forgiven the killers (of her husband and two children) and had no bitterness for them. "Forgiveness brings healing and our land needs healing from hatred and violence. Forgiveness and the consequences of the crime should not be mixed up".
Dipika , i agree to you fully..u can visit my first blog on http://dreamsneverdie.blogspot.com where i also expressed my same opinion..
handa.. u posted the same comment on my blog.. and i'll again say the same thing..try to think froma victim's point of view rather that the view point of human rights activists
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handa.. u posted the same comment on my blog.. and i'll again say the same thing..try to think froma victim's point of view rather that the view point of human rights activists
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