Saturday, January 26, 2013

The Execution of Sanity




Ever since the heinous crime in the rape capital of our nation, the country has been flooded with demonstrations and protests. The social media is abuzz with self proclaimed justice keepers baying for blood. In reality, this crime has revealed the dark side of the society- the side that normally remains suppressed, the primal,blood thirsty beast within everyone of us. It is appalling to see young minds describing in gory details the exact nature of the punishment they want to inflict on the accused.

A common argument usually being put forward is that in certain countries in the middle east, torture and violent execution is handed out to rapists, so why not implement it here? The simple answer to this argument lies in the human rights records of these nations. For it is in these same countries that women have zero rights and freedoms, and very little in way of justice. In these nations, the law of land demands that females who commit adultery should be stoned to death. Is this the state of affairs we want to see our India arrive at?

For all those clamoring for death sentences for the accused- if that punishment would prevent rape,by the same logic, our nation will be free of murders and terrorist acts. Punishments hardly serve as deterrents, for criminals do not think about the consequences of their actions. Education, sensitization and open dialogue prevent crimes before they happen, and that is the right direction we should focus our thoughts in.



2 comments:

Sandy said...

Amen!

Vineetha Mekkoth said...

The key word is sensitization. If right from childhood children are taught to empathise with other living things - trees, plants, insects, birds, animals, other children - then only will they become aware of the joy, sorrow, pleasure, pain of other beings. Only then will a child grow up normal, with compassion and love in the heart. Else he/she will be twisted and warped like these men. There are so many like them in our midst. Some fate protects some, that is all.