It is inhuman to keep a person on
death row for more than two decades then execute him. In a civilised world any
sane person should be against capital punishment, it is barbaric and questions
the mode of State’s response. This
blogger has read and understood the arguments regarding capital punishment, as
also some really riveting fiction works from Camus to Dostoevsky. Camus has
been my favourite and I am quite influenced by his views. Therefore few years
back I too had reservations on capital punishments but now realise that the
issue is complex when it comes to Indian situations, one cannot be quite certain. It is contextual and needs to be applied as the situation
demands, in the rarest circumstances. Human life is not sacrosanct, to argue
that human life predominates everything else is placing it in ethical moral
context created by religion. That is not how nature works, and human being is
only minor but increasingly dominant part of narration called life. If one
human being decides to take another human being's life or a set of people’s life
then if investigation finds factors pointing to heinousness of the intent, as
also other aggravating factors then that person very definitely loses his case
on his own life. Clearly these are not confined to direct act of killing only but
also to creating circumstances that degrades lives of community and causes
deaths, hence needed be treated with equal seriousness. So the question of
degrading the environment, ecosystem and thus putting lives of millions of humans
and other species at risk is a serious matter. Psychopath capitalists rarely
face death sentence, even the worst of offenders like Anderson are escorted
out.
You have to live your life
responsibly; if it grievously intrudes into others then you have to take the
consequences. It may sound retributive hence uncivilized but then that is what
punishment is defined as, there is inbuilt vengeance in the concept of punishment. If
a person takes the life of another person, in a situation that points to
heinousness, then that person will have to be punished in the severest form
possible. Now whether that is to be capital punishment or life imprisonment is
the question. Why this blogger favours capital punishment in such situation is
based on realistic factors that are based on the tribulations facing this
society, hence we cannot be compared with Europe or richer societies. India is
a poor country where millions of people live under abject poverty and desperation;
people die of malnutrition and diseases. They don’t get the attentions that is
expected from the State, further the society is too skewed that makes the elite
section extremely exploitative. In such situation the argument that
perpetrators of heinous crime can have the option of comfortable stay and regular food is not acceptable. Why I use the
term ‘comfortable’ is since if you compare the abject destitution under which millions of poor people exist then any concrete structure over head is undoubtedly
comfort if not luxury, and to have access to regular food without any
uncertainties is a dream for many therefore when these facilities are extended to perpetrators of
heinous crimes, in the name of life imprisonment, it becomes a joke on lives of poor people in this country. Food and shelter is what millions of people
don’t have (in cities there are many instances of them being crushed by
vehicles as they sleep on footpath), and they are not violent and don’t kill
other people. In most cases they are vicious outcome of skewed social
circumstances and lack of enlightened policy making, therefore the state’s
limited resources must go to these areas. Further, there are too many people,
and the population keeps on increasing, under such circumstances heinous
criminals cannot be guaranteed life. Keeping the carbon unit that is serious
threat to society, having committed act of heinousness, is a waste and must be
terminated. This might sound robotic but if you place yourself in abject
poverty and crowded surroundings then you have to be practical. We are
exploding quite rapidly, food is becoming costly, space for healthy living is
reducing at a faster rate, surroundings are degrading and unsustainable. Freedom
is only a notion for most people; they are trapped in the demeaning frameworks and
primitive worldviews. It is worse than being imprisoned in a jail. Capital
punishment therefore isn’t a bad option at all. It may or may not have deterrence
but that is a minor issue.
We have to also factor in machiavellian elite who masquerade benevolence
as they take sides depending on gains or high moral grounds that fetch precious
price in West. They don’t live in congested places and diminished facilities,
they don’t face daily abuses and threats. Indeed it can be argued quite easily
that they themselves are in many way cause of these disparities that
undoubtedly has historical reasons and contemporary apathy. It is quite clear that Indian elite see these
occasions to establish their ideas of compassion hence compassionate, in the
meanwhile they quite firmly play to the international community as representing
higher moral for Indians hence could be fed. It is held that capital punishment
is barbaric and that many civilised countries have discontinued it. It is
ironic but Indians cannot claim to be civilised, therefore you cannot create a
superstructure of trying to be civilised while ensconced in primitive. This
call for compassion and stampeding onto attention seeking issues is a clever
ploy and opportunism. India has one of the tardiest judicial systems, common
people languish in jails for years and years as under trials for pettiest of
crimes (recently there have been attempts to mitigate these), and that is worse than capital punishment, these are living dead and
that too people who maybe innocent. While there are successful lawyers and
legal luminaries who walk on planet earth with faintest of bearings. What can
be more brutal than this? Cases take years and years while the judiciary fattens
on these miseries. The law and systems herein are archaic, many times
continuing the colonial legacy. Life in this part of the world is much cheaper, this chest beating over
capital punishment therefore smacks of same insensitivities as also moral
arrogance that is so characteristic of Indian elite. If Indians have same
living conditions and standards’ as Europeans and enjoy same alert law and
machinery as also judiciary then we can debate on morality over perpetrators of
heinous crimes. If Indian elite are as enlightened as any member of civilised
society then they can take high moral grounds. In this skewed society with depraved
traditions, very much tethered to primitive, they will not be allowed to take
it to the next level. They will be reminded of home truths, it cannot be wished
away nor will it be allowed to be cloaked in clever words. Actually Indian
elite have much in common with market driven crude mainstream in USA –very much
in consonance with white supremacist, both strangely skewed societies with high
estimation about itself and considers oneself infallible, ordained by god’s
special acts. Americans are violently moral, while Indians non-violently moral.
Both lethal in their morality, and uses it in every opportune occasion to
obfuscate the truth. One uses guns as weapon other uses clever words and depraved
ways for spreading untold misery. One kills physically while the other kills
the soul and degrades the humans. They both pride in democracies but end up
ridiculous caricatures. It need be pointed out that a better part of USA is
quite sane and vibrant hence the progress, that cannot be said about Indians
who have the habit of living on others, hence static and perpetrators of
heinous ways. Taking high moral grounds in vacuum that resembles Europe or
other enlightened societies doesn’t work; the social circumstances and
realities have to be factored in. It is a habit of Indian elite to take high
moral grounds from most unethical and inhuman surroundings, it is their wont to
use high flying words that carry no much meaning or intent, they satisfy their
audience, grab and move on. It is the common people who have to face the
realities and consequences. The tardy law and order machinery, a judiciary that
perpetuates its own absurdities, political elite that preserves itself on
pointers of feudalism, while the religious elites/priests arguably the worst
scums on earth, and now we have to go through the deceit of bleeding heart
primitives strategically placed around gravy pits as they negotiate nuances of pride,
preference and prejudice. Afro-American community must ask this question to themselves:
is it pride, or is it preference or is it prejudice that kills them?…to
understand it they need to negotiate through vaginal superhighways and get into
the mind of Indian elite, a wonderful world of depravity. 
If justice is delayed then it is
justice denied. The judges must be held responsible, this blogger believes that
Yakub Memon’s case was quite brutally handled since you cannot keep a person on
death row for so many years, it is unethical. As also too much resources and
money are being wasted. These cases should be finished within five years, or
the person should be left free for the reason of incompetence of
judiciary. In the meanwhile a judge must
be immune to political pressures and influences, as also be aware of social
circumstances and inequities. It is clear that some death sentences are
commuted to life imprisonment due to political reasons. The perpetrators of
heinous acts like assassination of former PM should have been dealt long time
back, they do fall into rarest of rare case so do the Delhi bus gang rapists. There
are hundreds and thousands of farmers who are killing themselves. These are
peace loving people, ordinary people, trapped in a system that doesn’t seem to
be in their control, and are forced to take their own life. Isn’t society
responsible for their deaths? There are millions of people dying and suffering because
of lack of proper food, unhygienic surroundings and common diseases and
infections that could be easily be cured. When you keep perpetrators of heinous
crime under life imprisonment you are extending these facilities that are being
denied to millions of marginalised common people, and that is immoral. Death
sentences can only be discontinued as and when the society is egalitarian. The
understanding of egalitarianism must start from how we treat common people and
our surrounding, as also home truths. The
concept of egalitarianism shouldn’t be kept at the fancy of elite section, and
debating club herein, those looking for traction and gaining points at
international level. Resource stretched India as also world community is facing
threats in terms of terrorism and complexities that arises herein, these need
to be dealt accordingly. As is the case death sentences are used in rarest of
rare cases in India unlike China or USA, and a more sensitive President would
deny it further, hence capital punishment could be used judiciously as and when
the need arises.
