7/30/2019 Goodbye, Death Sentence

1/3

7/30/2019 Goodbye, Death Sentence

2/3

Did we not witness how the trial of Saddam Hussein was conducted? Thejudges, the witnesses, the authorities were dancing to a tune. The tune wasorchestrated somewhere in the US. Producer of chemical weapons, owner ofbiological weapons, schemer of terrorist plans against the US and what not?Everything was orchestrated to prove to the world that Saddam was a

dreaded criminal and the world was in a terrible hurry to bury the ghost ofSaddam at the earliest. A rarest of rare criminal! But after he was killed therewas no chemical, no biological weapon and there was no terrorist plan. Whowas a worse criminal? George Bush or Saddam Hussein? One the owner ofrich oil wealth and other the usurper of that wealth! Criminals on the prowl!The more powerful State wins.

Let us agree killing is a crime. It is a crime whoever does it. Can a crime becountered by another crime however similar they are? There will be no end tocrime if one takes recourse to this type of logic. One killer is terrorist. Anotherkiller is a State. Both indulge in organized crime. Both criminalize each other.

Can the likes of Kasab be eliminated from the world by awarding deathsentence? That is what the State believes and professes. But the oppositecan also happen and often it does. When one crime is countered by anothercrime the criminals get hardened. The State evolves much strongermechanisms and determination to put down the terrorists. It enacts manylaws giving free power to the police and army. The terrorists on their partalso evolve much stronger and harder mechanisms to counter the State. Dowe end up eliminating criminals and killers or do we end up producing more ofthem? The history of the world shows that the State only helps in producingmore killers.

Killing the killer! Does that lead to a better society with less number ofcriminals? Let us take the case of newspaper reports about road accidents.The rarest of rare accidents take place on the roads. But does it deter peoplefrom over speeding, from drunken driving, from careless driving and causingaccidents? It is the other who is the cause of the accident. It will neverhappen to me. I am different. More killer vehicles on the road and morekillers on the road! But this type of killing is not the rarest of rare cases andno death penalty for this crime.

The Christian society criminalizes Muslim society and vice versa. The Hindusociety criminalizes the Muslims society and vice versa. The caste societycriminalizes the Dalit society and the Dalit society criminalizes the dominantcaste society. Tamils criminalize the Sinhalese and vice versa. Will there bean end to criminalization? If there is no end to criminalization there will be noend to killing either.

Who is the real killer, the one who shoots or the one who hires him to shoot?You catch the shooter and hang him. The schemer will hire another one,perhaps more efficient one to shoot. You can be happy at your helplessness,at your inability to get hold of the real schemer of killing. You cannot feel

happy about someone like Kasab breaching all the security fortresses thatyou built. Suddenly someone appears and pricks your self-pride. Oh State,

7/30/2019 Goodbye, Death Sentence

3/3

get at the roots of crime, the real causes.

Kasabs should not be allowed to live in society. But not after they kill people.They should not be allowed to live in society before they kill. This will meanthat the State has to do a different type of exercise. If you have a set of

criminals at the helm of affairs in governance you will inevitably have alsoanother set of criminals at the bottom of affairs. Elimination is a very poorstatement on governance. Let the killers live for the rest of their lives withinboundaries determined by the State.

The UN is right. There should be no killing of anyone in the world. No moredeath sentence. Kudos to all the nations that voted for the UN resolution toabolish Death Sentence, as a deterrent of crime. It is disappointing that Indiais poor reactionary nation to have opposed this resolution. A nation thatswears by non-violence and superior spirituality seems to have fallen flat onits value. Perhaps this is the true colour of Indian spirituality, a fake one at

that. Let us say goodbye to Death Sentence.