The national response to the brutal sexual offence committed
to Delhi survivor and other issues in recent past compels one to ask the above
question. Let us view the response in hindsight and try to make sense out of
it.
The outrage can largely be credited to media taking up the
issue which else like hundreds of sexual offences might well have gone
unnoticed. Much of the noise that was doing the rounds was more about the
penalty that the perpetrators should get. My facebook wall for once was filled
with requests for online petitions demanding death penalty for the offenders.
Similarly petitions to change the law to include death penalty for sexual
offences, including for retrospective cases (such as this Delhi case) was doing
the rounds. This brings forth the very question that I asked in the beginning.
Quantum of punishment for any crime has two facets to it.
One is that it must act as a deterrent and secondly the punishment must be
commensurate with the crime. Interestingly an additional dimension is getting appended
in our society. That dimension is of VENDETTA and it is this dimension which I
believe emotionally charged the people to demand amendments to the
constitution. Instead of focus being on how to best reform and implement the
law so that such instances do not take place in future, the whole noise was on
how to hang the perpetrators. Anybody with a contrary opinion was looked down
upon and ridiculed for going too soft on barbarians.
Also let us look at the role media is playing in this
regard. The recent trend has been that the media takes up mostly emotionally
charged issues, be it this Delhi case , the beheading of two of our soldiers
(issue loaded with nationalism) or be it the case of Owaisi/Togadia
speech(issue loaded with religious sentiments). Issues such as farmer suicides (more than a million in last 2-3 decades) are conveniently brushed
under the carpet. Since our media believes in doing all this self adulation, it
is high time that they start taking brickbats along with the bouquets.
According to the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by our Constitution, the state is prohibited from enacting any ex post-facto criminal legislation. You cannot punish someone for a crime committed by him in a manner decided after the commission of the crime by the statutes.
ReplyDeleteDeath Penalty in many cases is borne out of human emotions and sway. The public opinion colours the judgement and it is often the human conscience which guides decisions than the statutes themselves. Something which is marvelous about our judicial system is that it gives the latitude of power to the people to decide the fate of the society. Do we want someone as a part of the social fabric, someone who doesn't value human life? Or do we remain tolerant and give the other person a chance to reform. Very difficult answers these.
I am sure there will be many such petitions, facebook wall posts, protests et al in the future as well, but what needs to be seen is the sustenance of the emotions and the fervour.
I guess human judgement will always be biased. And that is because we, as human beings, are flawed.
totally agree with you....Mr IAS....as you correctly said that retrospective amendments to the law cannot take place, I beleive much of the noise(then) was bunkum...,and yes the very concept of capital punishment also needs to be pondered on...
ReplyDeleteI guess we, as a society, are very cruel. We don't think twice before violating others, and we don't ponder over our misdeeds. Tolerance is fast vaporizing in today's world.
ReplyDeletePeople like you, Guptaji, can obviously help make a better India. Go out there and be the next big thing in India Inc. and make a difference. I know you will. :)
Still I a very optimistic abt our society....the fact that we have been able to celebrate our pluralistic democracy and the whole concept and idea of India for 65+ years provides me that optimism....the land that Churchill predicted will disintegrate has managed to thrive inspite of differences in caste, colour, creed, costume, convictions, cuisines...is in itself an achievement... but there shld not be any complacency and as a society I totally agree with you that we must strive to free ourselves from clutches of plodding intolerance....
Deleteon a differnet note....jha teri preperations kaisi chal rahi hain...phoda phodi macha rakh hogi tune toh