Kudos to 'The Hindu' for publishing the famous article - A Hanging penned by the celebrated British journalist of yesteryear's - George Orwell. This piece of journalistic beauty meticulously chronicles the last thirty minutes of the life of a condemned man, before he is sent to the gallows. This essay is food for thought for people both For and Against capital punishment. It is true, that the nature of crime for which this punishment is rendered is so heinous that a death penalty seems to be the most fit punishment for the guilty. But this is also true, that how much right do we have to snuff out the life of a perfectly healthy person, when we cannot create life in the first place. If a person is alive, then we still get a chance to change him for the better. As George puts it, all the internal organs of a person walking towards the gallows are 'toiling away in fullary' trying to keep him alive, totally oblivious, that this person will be dead anyway after a few minutes.
Presently the country is debating on whether the people in death row in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, should be hanged or given life sentence. Recently many parts of Tamil Nadu, saw protests against the High Court (HC) decision to hang them, forcing HC to put a temporary stay. Students protested by doing what they do best, i.e. blocking roads, this time the jugular of Chennai - Anna Salai for over 2 hours causing huge traffic problems.There have been some extreme cases as well, for example a woman gave up her life by self-immolation while protesting the HC decision of hanging. However, the police is still investigating the actual reason why she took this step.
The last hanging which the country saw was in 2004 of the rape and murder convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee. At that time too, The Hindu, had raised this question about how effective the death penalty is, and whether it can be done away with? As a matter of fact, there are over a 100 countries that have presently decided against using the death penalty. Should India, who has taught the world the merits of non-violence also follow suit?
Well, but then, what about the 'Eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth' justice. How will we send a message to where it matters most, by hanging the Afzal's and Kasab's, and say that we are not a soft state, and we will not take matters lying down. But strangely, the only people who are caught in the net for the capital punishment are people who are extremely poor. Be it Dhananjay or Kasab! U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas remarked once: "One searches our chronicles in vain for the execution of any member of the affluent strata of society."
6 comments:
I beleive that if someone has taken other's life .. or done somthing to spoil others life .. Then they lose the right of there LIFE too..
SO the need is there to take that right away .. TAKING too long to do that is what brings all these discussions ...
How can we justify keeping a person alive , in prison , paid for by the rest of the hard working people.. when the same person has done such wrong deeds ..
No sir i dont beleive in that .. Justice needs to be SWIFT.. not take years .. If one has done wrong then he/she needs to be hanged at earliest ...
Bikram's
George Orwell is one of my all time fav writers. the imagery of the organs working furiously to keep the body alive - how original & interesting
I am also against capital punishment. Now going to read, A Hanging. Thanks :-)
It isn't justified, killing someone for his/her wrong doings. No matter how bad it was something he/she did in the past.
That way, punishing unwanted behavior mostly for behavioral modification isn't happening. It might then be called a 'revenge'.
Thanks all of you for your comments.
Bikramjit I understand your point, but where is the difference between the criminals and justice system, if both do the same act.
Sujatha, very true;
Giribala, yes please do read. Its brilliant.
Anupam, I fully agree. Revenge should not be misunderstood as justice. Humans are capable of change. Even people having commited most henious crimes have changed for better.
well it does look inhuman to hang someone till death but we must see that who is being hanged...off course he is someone who has killed others without any reason, so what else he should get in return...DEATH for sure so that others think twice before going for such brutal acts.....moreover it should not take years after he commits that crime.....
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