Opposition to Capital Punishment Should Not be a Matter of Opportunism
Conviction has become a matter of convenience for India’s rising
numbers of Argumentative Ill-liberals. They invoke ideologically tenuous
tenets whenever it is expedient. For the past few weeks in the
bombastic build-up to Yakub Memon’s execution, myriad ersatz ideologues
awoke from their self-serving stupor to proclaim their opposition to the
death penalty. Indeed, some of them do have a credible record as
campaigners against capital punishment. But there are many opportunists
who sensed a bright opportunity to lure the limelight in the competitive
world of opinion operators by joining the chorus. Last week’s
decibel-driven debate on whether the gallows are a necessary deliverer
for justice or not was seen by many as an attempt to prevent the hanging
of Memon who was, by his own admission, associated with the macabre
murders of over 250 innocents, including numerous Muslims. Even an
erudite and articulate intellectual-turned politician like Congress MP
Shashi Tharoor wasn’t gauging the sensitivity of the somber occasion
when he tweeted, “Saddened by news that our government has hanged a
human being. State-sponsored killing diminishes us all by reducing us to
murderers too.” Coming as it did from a scholar like Tharoor, his
social media post invited the ire of what the Ill-liberals call
‘Bhakts’. Terming the implementation of a verdict delivered and endorsed
by the Supreme Court as state-sponsored killing, Tharoor denigrated the
credibility of the Indian judicial system, which spent a record number
of days, months and years deliberating the issue of hanging a man who
had savaged the soul of India. Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Dipak
Misra did stellar service to the judiciary by sitting late till dawn to
hear the same arguments on Memon’s clemency petition all over again
only to let the world know that the Indian judicial process may be slow
sometimes, but is impeccably unimpeachable in its verdicts.
Tharoor’s
wasn’t the lone litany in narrative of lament. Numerous heroes and
zeroes from Bollywood and politics voiced the same concerns. But a
genuine question that deserves merit is about the timing of their rant
against the death penalty. Why do the Ill-Liberals froth at the mouth
when an Afzal Guru or a Yakub Memon is hanged for their unpardonable
crimes against the country and its unity? Why did they not raise their
voices when hundreds of innocent Kashmiri Pandits were either killed or
exiled from their homeland by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists? Why were
they silent when the diabolically depraved 39-year-old Dhananjoy
Chatterjee was sent to the gallows for raping and killing a minor girl?
Chatterjee was hanged at sunrise at the Alipore Central Jail in Kolkata
where he had spent the last 13 years in solitary confinement. The
84-year-old hangman Nata Mullick, assisted by his 21-year-old grandson,
Prabhat, carried out the execution. It is ironical that the CPI(M),
which took the lead in screaming bloody murder against Memon’s hanging
was also the most vociferous supporter of Chatterjee being sent to the
scaffold. Then West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and
Left partner RSP had gone to the extent of asking the President to
reject Chatterjee’s mercy petition. To prevent Memon’s hanging, however,
they went knocking on all doors. Naturally, their sworn foe TMC opposed
this ardor. But both came on the same page to protest sending Memon to
the gibbet. When Afzal Guru was to be hanged for his role in the 2001
Parliament attacks, the professional pardonists argued fiercely that
they were not supporting him, but were instead antagonistic towards the
very principle of capital punishment. If this is the case, why aren’t
the Ill-Liberals moving the legislatures to delete it from the statuette
book? How many states ruled by the Left or supported by Ill-Liberals
have adopted resolutions on this matter? How many of them have disrupted
Parliament for saving the several convicts who are likely to meet their
maker in the near future? There has never been either consistency or
willingness on their part to take their cause to its logical end. Is it
because their desires convert into action only when the name and
religion of a convict facing the noose suits their agenda? Records of
parliamentary proceedings proves that death penalty hasn’t been a
favourite subject of rhetoric for those who are now straining their
vocal chords on TV and writing caustic columns. It was shocking to see
opinion-makers, including some in the media, discussing the merit of
Memon’s punishment rather than the damage he caused to communal harmony
of his own community. A few over-enthusiastic columnists crossed the
line by even questioning the wisdom of a national icon like Pranab
Mukherjee, forgetting the fact that the President, whether a vegetarian
or not, is bound by the government’s final decision.
Memon was
also used by Ill-Liberals as a viral weapon to polarise Indian society.
As the Bihar elections draw near, most political parties and their
maniacal megaphones are looking for an opportunity to garner sectarian
support. For them, a serious observation and fear expressed by a
governor is seized upon as a chance to politicise a ominous issue.
Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy’s tweet caused a huge uproar among
Ill-liberal contrarians. He had typed, “Intelligence shd keep a tab on
all (expt relatives & close friends) who assembled bfr Yakub Memon’s
corpse. Many are potential terrorists.” A few minutes later, he tweeted
again, “Governors ought to be concerned abt security of state.
Intelligence keeping tab on Yakub’s mourners is preventing terror.
Better than cure.” Predictably he was targeted left, right and centre by
the Left and their camp followers. Perhaps they conveniently forgot
that every Governor sends a fortnightly report to the President about
myriad issues, including law and order. Roy, however, had the last laugh
when a report on Memon’s burial published in the Indian Express, which
was seen as the apocalyptic future that lies in store for India. In a
jointly written story by three astute, hard-working reporters namely
Kavitha Iyer, Tabassum Barnagarwala and Aamir Khan, one of the mourners
Tariq Sheikh told them, “Blast victims are calling it justice. But look
at the Bada Kabristan, and tell me if this looks like closure, or the
start of something.” Some may claim Sheikh has proved the governor right
while others may call it the disquiet of a wounded community. The
assassins of humanity cannot be allowed to live to be resurrected as
archangels of death. Getting them to suffer the same fate they brought
to others is the real test of conviction in the code of justice.
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
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