Day 9 - Capital Punishment

A few weeks back I had an interesting discussion with one of my friends on Capital Punishment and if it should be abolished. There have been lot of discussions on this subject and I am sure there are people on either side of the fence.

My friend is a proponent of the fact that it should be abolished. His view is that an example should be set for the other criminals and that can be set by taking away their freedom. The most important thing for a person, by his logic, is his/her freedom and if you take that away and lock them away in a prison, you set an example for others wanting to commit the same crime. The other criminals will not want to commit the same crime. He also mentioned that research has shown that crime in a country that exercises capital punishment is no less than in one that does not or rather that crime in country without capital punishment is less than one with. His view was that a deterrent must be created for crime. There is also a view that a human has no right to decide on the life of another human. What use is inteligence if we behave like animals?

My view, on the other hand, is that capital punishment must be exercised in the rarest-of-rare crimes. Life is more important for a person than freedom and if you give the fear of losing life then crime may not get committed again. Of course this logic does not work for those people who do not care about their lives anyway - like terrorists. But if you 'set an example' then maybe the next person may not commit the crime. If a person like the Nithari Butcher is put to death maybe the next person who thinks of something like that may not do it. If a rapist of a small child is put to death, maybe the next possible rapist will think twice about it.

And that brings me to the topic of Kasab. Here is a youth who has indiscriminately killed people, trained his gun on innocents and pulled the trigger with no remorse. And we are spending tax payers money on taking care of him in jail and actually having a long drawn trial. What will that prove? We all know that he is one of the terrorists. Imagine what the other potential terrorists in Pakistan are thinking right now. They have Afzal Guru's example and now Kasab too. Hey, it we get caught after we have committed the crime, don't worry the Indian government will take care of us and we will live safely for at least another 10 years in their jails. Will capital punishment help the cause if we immediately execute the terrorist and let the world know that we will not tolerate terrorism? I think it will! I know what some of my friends will think - they will equate Kasab to Modi on Godhra and say that he too should be hanged. Maybe...let's get conclusive proof like in Kasab's case.

I think capital punishment is necessary. Can we please now hang Kasab and not waste my hard earned money and tax on taking care of him?

What do you think? Let me do a small poll. Which side of the fence are you on? YES for Capital Punishment or NO for who are we to decide to take someone's life!

(Cheeky of me to also find out how many really read my post!) :)