Amid the raging debate over death sentence to Rajiv Gandhi’s killers, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) president N.D. Pancholi said, “In the wake of the ongoing controversy on justification of death penalty it is high time the parliament take appropriate steps to abolish such provision from our statute books.”
Eminent criminologists and sociologists are of the opinion that harsh punishments strike terror in the minds of the criminals. They admit that many murderers sentenced to death were habitual criminals who had earlier committed murders. There is a direct relation of harsh punishments to crime rate. Statistics bears testimony to the fact that in the economically advanced American society where punishments are light, crime rate is highest; while in Saudi Arabia, where harsh Islamic laws are in force, crime rate is lowest. How is it that the western civilization permits the killing of millions of innocent people in Europe, Asia and Africa but forbids capital punishment of a single murderer. Former Chief Justice of India, Mr. R.C. Lahoti rightly supported the retention of death penalty. It is thus high time Parliament retained capital punishment.
G. Hasnain Kaif
Bhandara, M.S.