The death penalty in India
The other is Surinder Koli, convicted of one of the most horrific crimes we have heard of in India in recent years. Describing his acts, Harsh Mander wrote in The Hindu that Koli, who was then 33, was “convicted of killing at least 16 children, raping them dead or alive, chopping them into pieces and eating their flesh”.
The Indian Supreme Court has stayed Koli’s execution till October 29, but the fact is that India’s state has been executing people at a high rate under the current president, Pranab Mukherjee. The president is the final arbiter in death penalty cases and his rejection of appeals means that the convict is killed. He rejected Koli’s plea in July and next week’s hearing is probably the last chance Koli’s lawyers have to stop the state from executing their client.
The Times of India reported on February 11, 2013, that Mukherjee had sent more people to the hangman in his first seven months in office than in the previous 15 years.
Koli’s lawyers say that his confession was taken through torture and that even if true, it shows a man who is disturbed.
Mander wrote: “does even such a man merit any kindness? Is this not one case in which the world is better off without him? But his case — gruesome as it is — only reinforces my resolute opposition to the death penalty … If a crime results from a psychological disorder then, however gruesome and abhorrent the transgression, surely the humane, civilised, socially decent and constitutionally valid recourse would be to treat the problem, not eradicate the victim. What Koli needs desperately is clearly a doctor, not a hangman.”
I agree with Mander and don’t think hanging people solves anything. I would also say that Kodnani, who is in her sixties, being given bail is not a bad thing. I’ve written about this before and in India, the demand for death to convicts ensues from a desire for vengeance, not justice. This is a sign of a primitive society and we must accept that even educated Indians are not exempt from the feeling. It would not be incorrect to say that some of the more savage solutions for curbing crime originate from them.
In our parts, public lynching is not uncommon and, like the awful incidents with blacks in the US a century ago, it is acceptable by the public to wound or kill those who offend by stealing or by misbehaviour. This is also a product of that same desire for vengeance, and the emotion is felt strongly and collectively.
The crowd takes offence even when it is not the victim, and feels entitled to join in handing out punishment. Mobs form dangerously quickly on the subcontinent and carry with them a primitive like-mindedness, which makes them lethal.
In 2012, Frontline magazine reported that 14 judges sent an appeal to the president seeking his intervention to commute the death sentences of 13 convicts in various jails. The report said that the judges “have appealed to the president because these 13 convicts were erroneously sentenced to death according to the Supreme Court’s own admission”.
The president was also told that two men had, in fact, been wrongly killed. Ravji Rao and Surja Ram, both from Rajasthan, had been executed on May 4, 1996 and April 7, 1997 after flawed judgments. Given this, it is remarkable that Indian politicians and media should be clamouring, as is obvious to any observer, not for clemency, but for execution.
After the conviction of those accused in the infamous case of rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in Delhi, CNN reported: "The same crowd outside the courthouse that cheered Friday's death sentence for the four adults turned their ire on the juvenile. The crowd chanted, 'Hang the juvenile’.”
It is incumbent on the state and the media to calm passions in a nation where this sort of thing happens. I would like to end by quoting from Shakespeare. We were taught to memorise these lines from Portia in “Merchant of Venice” without thinking in school. They make more sense to me as an adult.
"The quality of mercy is not strained/It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/Upon the place beneath/It is twice blessed/It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (16)
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"Given this, it is remarkable that Indian politicians and media should be clamouring, as is obvious to any observer, not for clemency, but for execution."
The above statement exposes naivety on part of the author...
One of his statements "This is a sign of a primitive society and we must accept that even educated Indians are not exempt from the feeling." could provide a clue...
if the ordinary man and educated Indians want death penalty for the convicts, why would the Indian politicians go against the tide and jeopardize their careers?
Instead of blindly obeying every idea coming from west, like an obedient slave,our scholars should muster up some courage and say to these people- 'look! we regard life imprisonment most cruel..and we know that you know it as well!.. for us death penalty is the most appropriate punishment for murderer...we don't want to torture criminals but to punish them in least cruel way...look you don't want to see animals in cages why do you like humans in prison for rest of their life..?.we don't mean vengeance that is why we go extra mile to acquit the murderers by giving them the opportunity of getting forgiveness of the crime from the deceased party,for they are the people who are going to suffer for rest of their lives.thank you!.
When they stray from the righteous path then kill. Advised Sri Krishna in the Gita.
I find it amusing that these armchair high grounders keep taking about abolishing the capital punishment. I hope their daughters are raped, murdered and eaten and are then invited back to debate their moral high grounds in capital punishment. Eye for eye is the only to keep this world sane.
Why single out of the President of India when he/she acts on the advice of the government ? and when a convict gets hanged after going the whole checks and balances of the laws of the country? Most presidents of India chicken out from taking decisions, atleast the current president makes a decision.
Is it not hypocrisy when several Western countries while they oppose death penalty support US actions like drone attacks, attacks against terrorists (yes they are terrorists but when you kill a terrorist - is that not a death penality? )
Perhaps some sick humans need a doctor but can India afford the cost? There is no point in crying over split milk when we have more important issues to worry about.
Why vengeance in individuals and society?.Vengeance is primarily a product of anger and injustice.Injustice breeds both anger and vengeance.Compare the prevalent level of justice or injustice in the societies in the west or USA with that in the societies comprising countries of the sub continent.Both these levels in negative terms are far more in the sub continent.Violent reaction of mob present at the scene of any visible injustice/crime or taking side of the weaker is indicative of peoples resentment against rampant injustice in the society.Punishment commensurate with the crime/injustice committed is essential for peaceful and just societies.Elimination of death penalty for taking life ie murder will increase the crime rate of murder/ killing manifold in the sub continent countries.Psychological cases can be proved in the courts and can be dealt with accordingly.Mercy is also essential but in the cases of murder or rape 'the Right',to exercise mercy is that of the next of kin or rape victim and not that of the state.
Mr. Patel:
If you really think the above is true, then you & people who think like you should pay for maintaining these criminals for life. A person loses his right to life, when he commits heinous crimes - and that's how it should be. No point in burdening a poor nation with their upkeep. Especially the terrorists, who may even cause a terror act with a ransom demand for their release (like 1999 Khandahar hijack).
Best to eliminate such criminals swiftly and be done with it.
By their actions, some people (the Delhi gang-rapists, 26/11 terrorists, Surinder Koli) have shown that they are not humans, but monsters. Do we want these monsters to carry on - with a chance that they may go free someday and hurt more people?
If Ajmal Kasab were alive, what stops his minders from sending a team of terrorists to hijack a bus full of schoolchildren (hijacking an aircraft is near impossible, so relax - you and I won't be at risk) and demanding his release. Going by recent history, that possibility is very real.
Again, if Koli were to go free, he wouldn't target kids of people such as you or me. We are well off, our houses/communities are secure. It will be poor slum-dwellers whose kids play on the streets, street-children, orphans and other such really vulnerable persons - as he had done in the past. Same for the Delhi rapists - they will target vulnerable women who can't afford to have a protective bubble around them. Again, you and I will never be at any risk from any of these. So its pretty easy to take the seemingly moral high ground in this case, from a position of zero risk Bravo!
Thank you Aakar Patel for this excellent informative article.
As decent civilized human beings we are taught to have compassion, forgiveness and mercy. It is unacceptable to be racist, intolerant, discriminative or to hate people. Yet, at the same time, it seems acceptable for the public to hate, demand torture/revenge and to legally kill those who commit certain crimes. Sadly, these raw human emotions for vengeance are often encouraged by some politicians and the media. Politicians and the media 'play' on humans' emotions for the sake of votes and ratings. Capital punishment teaches our children that killing people is alright. This notion has a brutalizing effect, which inspires more acts of violence in an already violent society. The humane incarceration of violent offenders protects the innocents from the dangerous. Society as a whole, cannot have it both ways - we either behave as human beings or we can continue acting out as brutal animals.
My respect for President Mukherjee has gone up several notches after reading this article. Death penalty should be available for the most heinous crimes. Don't cite some unusual miscarriages of Justice in some cases to demand abolition of death penalty.
I personally faor the repeal of death penalty even though the land of my irth and my adopted homeland both have this. My reason is that an error in judgment is always possile. And this is one punishment which is irreversible.
Having said that, I do not judge the people wo support this punishment and I certaonly have a very difficult time with he argument that someone like Koli needs a doctor. They do deserve to get life imprisonment. Tose who are so concerned with the lives of the criminal somehow discount the premium of the ictim's life and I find that unacceptable.
good bye dear victims!
"...the quality is not strained.' Indeed, it is not filtered at all. It would take several tomes to define the Hindustani justice system A hybrid bastardization of a Colonial System that worked well, when the colonials were in charge. Now, it is a travesty of justice. When the Courts of Hindustan, from the lowliest to the highest in the land absolved a clear cut perpetrator of a massacre in Gujrat. Then, it is not Justice. And it was done deviously, yet so simply and smoothly that it bewilders the mind That it astounds the civilized World. All evidence, witnesses, paper trails connecting the chief executive of Gujrat to the slaughter simply vanished ! The man walked away free. The only indication of his culpability, his deep involvement, was the denial of visas. The man who is clearly known for his virulent, vitriolic hate for Muslims. The man who is the standard bearer of the most abhorrent, poisonous kind of philosophy. Hindutva. The same man, now leads a totally mesmerized, hypnotized Bharat. Not good, is it? How can a peace loving great religion, Hinduism, can be channeled into this bizarre destructive entity. And
After the conviction of those accused in the infamous case of rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in Delhi, CNN reported: “The same crowd outside the courthouse that cheered Friday’s death sentence for the four adults turned their ire on the juvenile. The crowd chanted, ‘Hang the juvenile’.”
There is a reason for this and it is ironic as a journalist that you do not know the reason. All the 4 adults who were sentenced to death had testified earlier that it was the juvenile who actually did the chilling and inhuman act of inserting an iron rod into the victim's private parts causing massive internal bleeding and her organs to rupture. Her intestines had spilled out and some of it were also removed by this juvenile. This was the reason why this one incident shocked the conscience of the nation.
As far as the four are concerned, one or two of them were bystanders, but they were accomplices in the crime and should perhaps have their sentences commuted to life terms which I am sure the Supreme Court will do under automatic appeal.
Personally I am not for the death penalty provided our system is capable of iron-clad full term prison sentences, but I do wish you had taken a better example to prove your point.