The "HR" lobby.......

Even before the quantum of sentence is announced in the 26/11 case the so called self professed proponents of Human rights are out with their knives. They are opposing the expected death sentence for Kasab.

This post is dedicated to Mr. Jug Suraiya (for his TOI article dated 05/05) and the others like him who constitute the so called HR(human rights) lobby of our society.

To quote Mr. Suraiya :"by urging his execution in the midst of an emotionally supercharged atmosphere we are endorsing the fundamental legitimacy of capital punishment. The death penalty represents the absolute power of the state to take life of an individual who has transgressed its laws. Shorn of euphemisms, capital punishment is the legitimisation of murder on the part of the state.Like all acts of life-taking it is an asymmetric right, in that the taker of life, is unable to give life, or to give back life, in case of an error of judgement"

First things first, Kasab is guilty of not only transgressing the laws of the state, he is guilty of taking the lives of 72 innocent Indians, irrespective of their age, caste or religion. This is a sweet coincidence that murdering also means transgressing Indian law under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.He is not only guilty of waging a war against India-the State, he is guilty of waging war against the very heart and idea of India and all that it stands for.He is guilty of shooting an 11 yr old girl , who is now on crutches. He is guilty of eliminating many a sole bread earner of their family. He is guilty of turning many people's supposed pleasant journey to a journey to heaven.

Under Indian law capital punishment is given under only rarest of rare cases where the complicity of the accused is beyond doubt. If Kasab's case doesn't fall under that category then whose will?

Its not only about a judge or a court, its about we the people of India whom Kasab was sent to murder. If you are criticising the court's right to take life of an individual then call for a referendum and see what the result is. Don't ask me for the result, ask the result from a 9 yr old child who has lost her father in the attack. Ask the result from Constable Ombale's wife who laid down his life to catch Kasab. You and I haven't, thats why we can have the comfort of typing out an article in our air conditioned rooms criticising death penalty for Kasab and either posting it to our blog or mailing it to the TOI.

You can call it "lynching', you can call it the "mob mentality" but this is what it should be, to deter future killers of humanity. To show them "look, this is what we have in store for you if you dare to kill our people". Realpolitik doesn't run on morality, its fuel is hard decisions taken in the interest of your people.

If it would for Israel or the USA, Kasab would not have the privilege of staying in a super speciality cell of the Arthur Road Jail. He would have been sent either to the guatemala prison and tortured or would have been hanged twice if possible, long ago.

Sometimes physics carry more marks than moral science.

I agree to Mahatma Gandhi's statement "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind",but you also have the newton's third law of motion and whether you or me like it or not it sometimes overrides or has to override Mahatma's vision.