Can Capital Punishment Done Away?

• Urgent need for a debate

An overcast sky with spells of rain here and there in Delhi; far away the People’s President, APJ Abdul Kalam being laid to rest at his birth place in Rameshwaram; the lone convict of 1993 Mumbai serial blast Yakub Memon’s curative petition being rejected by the Supreme Court and his subsequent hanging today at Nagpur central jail; All such events have created an air of melancholy!

Last night before retiring to bed glanced through the newspapers thoroughly and prayed for the eternal bliss of Kalam’s soul so that his cherished dreams of India 2020 becomes a reality. The teacher, the scientist, the President and the healer will be remembered for ever! And most importantly, in his passing away he has gifted the people of Shillong by putting the hill town's name in the world map!

In the back of my mind also prayed to stay the death warrant of condemned convict Memon, but this morning the Supreme Court proved the judiciary as hard as the rock by going ahead in sending him to the gallows.

Justice Kurian Joseph left no stones unturned to salvage the pronouncement but eventually succumbed to Justice A. R. Dave’s rejection on the stay of Memon’s death warrant.

Personally, I believe in Right to Life and against any kind of capital punishments. Hardcore criminals instead should be put behind bars for life with rigorous imprisonment. 

Although such views  have been expressed by several luminaries in the past but incidently, the tempo of this kind of arguments always takes climax only when a convict has been pronounced for execution. 

Similar thoughts had resurfaced during the death sentence of Ajmal Kasab who took part in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack and Afzal Guru, responsible for his role in the December 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament.

It is evident if Memon’s petition had been honoured by the SC then the judiciary would have proven partisan, lose its sanctity thereby, send a wrong message to the nation.

Therefore, it is most important for our parliamentarians, legislators and intellectuals to have a threadbare debate in normal times when no criminals are in death row on this pertinent question of abolishing capital punishment. 

Perhaps, the outcome of such a debate can give a fair judgement to amend relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code until the noose is set for the next criminal. What is your opinion?