Should we ban Capital Punishment ?

Those who oppose capital punishment would rather have us believe that it is applied indiscriminately in each and every case related to some heinous crime. Death penalty is awarded and should be awarded as the last resort on the part of the judicial authority to apply it only in cases where human sensitivity touches the abyss of degeneration.

We must remember that capital punishment is the only case in which the accused is given the rare chance of appealing against his sentence before the Head of the State, even though his crime has been proved in the apex court of the land, the Supreme Court. This shows that the law makers, the law interpreters and the law enforcement agencies have all understood the delicate nature of capital punishment considering it a necessary evil which must be retained.

The decision conveys the message that moral problems sometimes need concrete solutions and cannot always be allowed to linger on in the realms of spirituality.

It is sad but true as human civilization attains overall progress in various fields, human values keep a beating as manifested in the increasing cases of violence, murder, child rape – not to talk of terrorist and secessionist activities. So, how does one tackle people who are trigger happy, who do not talk but fire bullets without any qualms because they have come round to a belief that taking someone’s life is the only way to get things done?

With the passage of time, the “dark” psyche of human beings is being exposed. Till the time human beings turn or return as “angels”, there is hardly any point in taking a passionately idealistic view of the concept called capital punishment. If capital punishment is banned, there would be no fear of a possible death by hanging in the minds of the criminals, they would then easily continue with their “job” knowing that even if they were caught and convicted, the prospect of living some kind of “safe” life would remain. Such a smug attitude on the part of the offenders of the law, who already have found many a loophole in the system would well sound a death knell for civilized living.