Should There Be a Death Penalty?

India has been dealing with terrorism for a long time. In addition to it, there have been numerous cases of riots and ethnic cleansing which have given this great country a bad name. The fact of the matter is that when our own are trying to eat us from within, how would we fight the neighbours.

The hanging of Yakub Memon has raised a huge debate within the country on the issue of death penalty. Many believe that the capital punishment should abolished. According to these people, “nobody has the right to take the life of another person”.

Is is far easy to voice your opinion out and talk about human rights, but why is it that nobody talks about the human rights of the actual victims. There has been a huge cry over the death sentence of Yakub. There are many people who are trying to portray him as a victim. We humans have a tendency to sympathize with the underdog. What you are feeling is your first instinct. Try to rationalize. You haven’t met this person and have no idea what kind of human being he is. We humans are capable of taking extreme measures and also extremely tolerant. We are susceptible as a society. When a person is responsible for such a heinous act against society he loses his right to be part of it.

The decision to terminate accused life has been done with much deliberation and it is executed in humanely possible way. The ground reality is that nobody likes to wash their dirty linens in public. These terrorists do not think twice before killing some innocent people. If we talk about doing away with capital punishment, then we should ask our defense personnel to hand over all the weapon and fight with their bare hands.

If our boys at Kargil didn’t take lives we’d have lost the war. Everyday they have to face the bullets and shells of our neighbor. Ask those brave policemen who died in the line of duty fighting these terrorists.

These so called messiah of human rights talk about the pain of his family! What about the pain endured for over 20 years by the families of the victims in the bomb blast? We don’t like to get our hands dirty, but talk about it when someone else does? I am happy and angry that the country took so long to hang the culprit. Although counter statement can be made that he had already served 20 years in jail. That itself is life imprisonment. So why give him double punishment, but hanging him. A point there can be made in favor of him, but truth is that he killed innocents, and people like him don’t deserve any leniency.

Even though #YakubMemon has been sent to gallows, there is still a big question looming over the minds of many people.

Are we issuing selective Capital punishment with our terrorists?

EVERY terrorist must be punished severely. Many victims’ family must have got closure of sorts today with the hanging of Yakub Memon & I am happy for them. But ‘Selective justice/killing/hanging is diluted ethnic cleansing’. Here is why.

Memon was the Middle Man & the Key Coordinator who arranged everything for the serial blasts as per the reports. Maya Kodnani was ‘the kingpin’ of the Naroda Patya massacre. She drove around all day handing out weapons and urging people to kill resulting in killing 97 people which included 36 women & 35 children. (The details of each death is too gory for me to share)

She was IRONICALLY made Women and Child Development Minister by the then CM Modi. Sentenced later to 28 years. SHE LEAD FROM THE FRONT and NOW OUT ON BAIL. The same can be said for numerous other people like Jagdish Tytler. Anyone who does not question this is a Bigot!

IMO, if a person (criminal) takes a life of another person knowingly and intentionally, then that person (criminal) does not have the legitimate right to live. That person (criminal) thinks that a life of another innocent person is not worthy. So, death penalty in that case is justified.

Let me give you an example. When I heard the news of hanging, the first thing that came to my mind was that if I take a life of a person knowingly and without any remorse, then I will also die. If I value my life, I will not do such act. But these dreaded terrorists don’t think much when it comes to killing innocent people. So why keep them alive? I would rather spend the money, used in keeping these people in jail, on some needy person who knows the value of life. There are many people in our society who get a high after creating a rift in the society. This is the root cause of terrorism.

The value of life will only be there, if there will be a severe punishment. Why are there so many drunk driving case, because we havn’t seen a culprit get punished that often. The same goes for the rapist. I am not lobbying for hanging every other criminal. There is a saying that “an eye for any eye makes the whole world blind”. But it should also be taken into account that our society has no need of such anti-social elements.

When it comes to differentiation between terrorist/criminal, a terrorist kills people to spread fear in society. These type of people don’t have the right to live. While criminals do that in an act of rage or animosity. There is a fine line between the two, but as far as terrorists are concerned, most of them want to do maximum collateral damage irrespective of the fact, whether they live or die. So we should welcome it and send them to gallows.