Snuff out
Killings! It can be through the due process of Law
meted out as a capital punishment for
a heinous crime; by an individual or a group taking law into their own hands
meting out as reprisal called in normal parlance as murder – either by
themselves or through ‘contract’; or by occurrences, through natural causes
like aging, accidents, by an act of God.
Apart from all, there is war.
Capital punishment is punishment
by death ordered by a court of law for an act against humanity. It is
a subject matter of an unending controversy, for and against it.
Judiciary attempts to give
punishments commensurate to the crime.
Severity of punishment increases from fine and simple imprisonment to
rigorous imprisonment to life imprisonment and in rarest of rare cases capital imprisonment,
as harmful effect on the community of the crime increases. The ultimate is the capital punishment in
countries where it is still in vogue.
103 countries abolished Capital
punishment altogether. 36 countries
actively practice and about 50 countries have not resorted to it for at least
10 years. If you look at
demographically, China, India, U.S. and Indonesia which account for 60% of
global population have death penalty in their statutes. These four nations have voted against UN
General Assembly resolutions abolishing death penalty. With the exception of Iran, Saudi Arabia and
Sudan, all countries do not apply these provisions on juveniles, i.e., below 18
years of age. It is said that it acts as
a deterrent for the potential or would be offenders.
Apart from judicial process, we
have khap panchayats or katta panchayats depending on areas, which do not have
sanction of law but dispense justice pushing down the throat. Governments world over have built in
machinery to effectively curb such extra judicial dealings.
This brings us to occurrences
which cover death by aging or accidents.
The concept of welfare state ensures improving longitude and quality of
life through various measures.
All this boils down to the fact
that there can never be a right for anybody to snatch away the life of anyone
for whatever reason. Reinforcements to
this school of thought came from plenty of instances in almost all countries
where it was found decades later, to be one of wrongful conviction and / or
execution. This is miscarriage of
justice. These things could never be
undone.
Trigger happy law enforcement
personnel have their due share. From
recent media reports two instances merit mention.
On April 4, 2015, Walter Scott
was running from a police officer and he was shot to death in North Charleston,
South Carolina, U.S. A video shot by a
bystander had gone viral on the net last week.
Of course, US is now grappling with the consequences.
The second incident around the
same period across the world on April 7, 2015 took place in the forest of
Seshachalam (near Tirupati) in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, where 20
people were gunned down by the Special Police team and foresters for alleged
smuggling of Red Sanders - a banned and endangered item. Both Hyderabad and Madras High Courts have
independently ordered second autopsies.
Allegations were thick and fast that the killings were stage managed by
Police. The Andhra Pradesh is in the hot
spot over this. In any case, conviction
rate in such brutalities is very negligent.
Law is applicable to all equally
and only vigilant public is the solution.
The thought that efforts should be directed towards correction and rehabilitation
should get momentum and transform into action.
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