Capital punishment is an evil necessity especially in context of Indian society. The justification behind capital punishment still in vogue is that it acts as an effective deterrent for the commission of heinous crimes. There can be easy argument that capital punishment has not been that an effective deterrent and crimes still take place at an unabashed rate. It might be true also. Even then, there is nothing in the present system that justifies abolition of capital punishment.
We as a society and polity have not been able to build up a system that guarantees us a crime-free milieu. In fact, crime is a natural concomitant of human existence. It is bound to be there. What is required is to control and prevent it. In a society like India where law implementing agencies are not as efficient as they ought to be, it is must that whatever crimes are punished should be punished with utmost strictness so as to deter others from committing it. It is true that recidivists might not be affected by such deterrents. But, even then, there is a sense of apprehension that exists because of such punishments which prevents the otherwise sane and moral person from committing a crime. These punishments provide tangibility to the otherwise intangible morality and values associated with it.
But, I strongly emphasise in light of SC judgment in Tribeniben case that the execution proceedings post capital conviction should be expediently carried out. Lackadaisical administrative attitude towards such cases that require urgent disposal breeds dissatisfaction towards the system. Moreover, it makes the whole process of capital punishment more and more inhuman where a person waiting for the gallows is tormented everyday by such delay. Recent secret hangings like that of Afzal Guru and Kasab should also be avoided as such covert actions create a sense of doubt over our democratic credentials despite following the proper rule of law.
It can not be denied that judicial killings are against the strict interpretation of order of nature, which does not authorise any one to take life of a human. But, they are must to re-establish the social order that is disturbed by commission of crime. Till the time our society faces the menace of terrorism and criminal instincts get attenuated, we can not take the risk of endangering our criminal jurisprudence by abolishing the criminal punishment. Apparently retributive in nature capital punishment in reality instills fear in the heart of law-fearing individuals from committing crime. It does not obliterate the crime but it in deed facilitates diminishing of degree of crime and sometimes also non-happening of it. It might seem to be infringing the human rights of an individual but in light of the gravity of wrong committed and for the greater social good this evil will have to prevail and must prevail.
-Prashant
