With due respect to the deceased lady and her suffering family; I beg to differ on the Supreme Court decision on the Nirbhaya case. This is a bad decision by the Supreme Court; I will not be surprised if the judges were swayed more by emotions and public rage rather than what really needed to be done. Agreed that the deceased lady cannot and will not get justice for this crime. The crime was outrageous and cannot be condoned; but not unforgivable. Courts need to deliver justice; not vengeance.
The death penalty is not punishment but vengeance. The job of judges and courts is to deliver justice and not vengeance. Justice means getting the status quo ante back; as it was before the crime. Any punishment and not even the death penalty can do this in such cases. As this cannot happen in this case; the death penalty is not justice. If justice cannot be delivered; then their job is to protect society from these criminals and the relevant sections of the law provide for a life imprisonment which is just. It is not our business as human beings to take life – we stop being human when we do this. No one has the right to take another life in times of peace. It brings more pain and sorrow to families.
The death penalty is a barbaric and practice; evil cannot be used to counter evil. Quoted by erudite commentator: ..”that the “rarest of rare” is an absurd doctrine that has no basis in law or in the constitution. Even worse, it provides no guidance on who should or should not get the death penalty..”. Going by this life-for-a life penalty/logic; may I ask what the penalty should be for those supposed law-keepers responsible for custodial torture resulting in custodial death or for extra-judicial killings or for that matter those responsible for killing the unborn/abortions where a helpless human is torn apart piece by piece all practices that should end immediately. The Supreme Court was a wiling party to one such killing recently where an unborn fetus with some congenital anomaly was declared unfit to live.
It is true that to err is human but to forgive divine. On this note; a life imprisonment is a just sentence for this heinous or related crimes. A moratorium on legal executions is what is needed all over the world; with a final abolition as soon as possible.
