At an informal meeting between a group of Indians and Pakistanis in the Swiss village of Caux, the venue of the second forum of human security in July 2009, one suggestion put forward was for the governments in New Delhi and Islamabad to abolish capital punishment.
It was argued that it would help improve relations between the two neighbours. Yes it would, if this suggestion were to be taken seriously.
Given the number of prisoners from each country languishing in the jails of the other at any point in time and the fact that a number of them have been on death row for years makes this an issue worth taking up. The charge most frequently slapped on such prisoners is of indulging in acts of terrorism or ISI/RAW-inspired espionage. Invariably the fate of one man is tacitly interwoven with that of another.
This strategy results in a tit-for-tat game with the two sides retaliating to each other’s actions in similar fashion. If there is a man linked to India on death row in Pakistan, be assured there will be one awaiting a similar fate in India. Today, Mohammad Afzal Guru stands convicted in India for storming the Lok Sabha in December 2001. In Kot Lakhpat jail, Lahore, we have Sarabjit Singh arrested in 1990 and convicted of carrying out serial bomb blasts in Faisalabad, Kasur and Lahore.
Sarabjit’s case will be coming up in court shortly and there are many reasons why thousands in Pakistan, as well as India, feel that he should not be hanged.
Sarabjit was sentenced to death in 1991 by Lahore’s anti-terrorism court. He filed a petition before the Supreme Court which was dismissed in 2005 on the grounds that it was time-barred. An appeal to review the petition was again dismissed in June 2009 when the government-appointed lawyer for the convict failed to appear before the court on two consecutive occasions when the case came up for hearing.
Now a new lawyer, Awais Shaikh, has been appointed and he is committed to fighting his client’s case. A fresh application has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking review of its earlier decision to dismiss Sarabjit Singh’s petition challenging his death penalty. A mercy petition is also being made to the president for clemency. The former Indian cricket captain, Kapil Dev, has collected 100,000 signatures calling for reprieve for Sarabjit and the same is being done on this side of the border.
Sheikh’s recent visit to India and the warm welcome he received there symbolises the popular sentiment in that country in favour of Sarabjit’s reprieve, as pointed out by the foreign minister.
Thus Sarabjit’s case has now acquired the dimension of an India-Pakistan issue which can be a factor in promoting amity among the people of the two countries. True, there are people lacking compassion who would argue in support of an eye for an eye and stern punishment for those who have ‘wronged’.
But the problem with capital punishment is that it is a frightfully ‘ultimate’ action that is irrevocable. Can one really be sure if the convict has really committed the deed? Whether a man is judged innocent or guilty depends on so many factors beyond his control. The interpretation of the law, the quality of legal assistance the defendant is provided, the efficiency or otherwise of the prosecution, even the political, international and social circumstances at the time the alleged crime was committed etc. All of these go into the making of a case for or against the person in the dock.
In Sarabjit’s case it is said to be based on conjectures and surmises. His name is disputed and is not even cited in the FIR. Given factors such as these, jurists now regard the death penalty to be an anachronistic punishment that has, to use Amnesty International’s words, “no place in a modern criminal justice system”. And the main question to be asked is, has capital punishment really deterred serious crime?
One doesn’t have to repeat all the arguments advanced by the opponents of capital punishment over the decades that have been so convincing that 133 governments have seen the wisdom of abolishing the death penalty. It is time others followed suit. In Pakistan’s case it is all the more difficult to condone what can be described as a lapse on the part of the government.
Last year, on the occasion of Benazir Bhutto’s birthday, Prime Minister Gilani had promised the National Assembly that all prisoners on death row in Pakistan would have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. This proposal was approved by the cabinet and reaffirmed by President Zardari when he took oath of office.
Why hasn’t this promise been fulfilled? Here is an opportunity for the government to show its commitment to two causes — that of human rights and that of peace in South Asia. The fact is that Sarabjit’s case has a direct bearing on India-Pakistan relations. The Indian government has been following the case closely, and has appealed a number of times to Islamabad to commute Sarabjit’s sentence to life imprisonment or grant him clemency.
Significantly, last year Sarabjit’s family members were granted visas to enable them to visit him in prison. It was then that he met his younger daughter for the first time. She was born after he had been arrested when, according to his family, he had strayed into Pakistani territory in a state of drunken stupor. His hanging was first put off for a month in April 2008 and then indefinitely.
The political implications of such cases, that also have strong humanitarian undertones, have not escaped public notice. Last year another Indian, allegedly a spy, Kashmir Singh, was released after 35 years in Pakistani prisons. Why not Sarabjit Singh who has already spent 18 years behind bars and was allowed consular access only four years ago?
(Source: By Zubeida Mustafa
Wednesday, 19 Aug, 2009 | 08:41 AM PST |
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/16-a-plea-for-sarabjit-hs-04
accessed on 19th August 2009)
Friday, November 25, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
India 'honour killers' face death for 1991 murders
BBC News Asia:
16 November 2011 Last updated at 19:31 GMT
A judge in India has sentenced eight men to death and 20 others to life imprisonment for three so-called honour killings that took place in 1991.The men were found guilty of murdering a Dalit boy and a girl from a higher caste who had eloped together, as well as the boy's cousin. All three were set alight and hanged, the court in Uttar Pradesh state heard.
A BBC correspondent says the sentences are some of the most severe ever recorded in a such a case. Earlier this year India's Supreme Court ordered states to stamp out "honour killings, saying people found guilty of such crimes should face execution. Convictions in such cases often carry life sentences.
The death penalty is awarded only very rarely in India - when executions are authorised they can be delayed for years on appeal.
Genitals burned Age-old notions of tradition and family honour are still deeply entrenched in many parts of Indian society. According to one recent study, hundreds of people are killed each year for falling in love or marrying outside their caste or against their families' wishes. Often "honour" crimes are endorsed, or even encouraged, by village-based caste councils or panchayats.
The court in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh heard how Vijander, a Dalit boy, had eloped with his girlfriend, Roshni. She was a member of the higher-caste Jaat community and from the same village, Mehrana, near the border with Haryana state. The couple returned to Mehrana a few days later thinking anger would have subsided, the BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi in Lucknow reports.
But village elders decreed they be killed, along with Vijander's cousin Ram Kishan, who had helped them elope. The killings took place on 22 March 1991 and were brutal - the court heard how the genitals of the deceased were burned before they were hanged from a tree.
The case came to light because the parents of the boys lodged a case against the council for ordering the killings, our correspondent says.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15759470
accessed on 18th Nov 2011
16 November 2011 Last updated at 19:31 GMT
A judge in India has sentenced eight men to death and 20 others to life imprisonment for three so-called honour killings that took place in 1991.The men were found guilty of murdering a Dalit boy and a girl from a higher caste who had eloped together, as well as the boy's cousin. All three were set alight and hanged, the court in Uttar Pradesh state heard.
A BBC correspondent says the sentences are some of the most severe ever recorded in a such a case. Earlier this year India's Supreme Court ordered states to stamp out "honour killings, saying people found guilty of such crimes should face execution. Convictions in such cases often carry life sentences.
The death penalty is awarded only very rarely in India - when executions are authorised they can be delayed for years on appeal.
Genitals burned Age-old notions of tradition and family honour are still deeply entrenched in many parts of Indian society. According to one recent study, hundreds of people are killed each year for falling in love or marrying outside their caste or against their families' wishes. Often "honour" crimes are endorsed, or even encouraged, by village-based caste councils or panchayats.
The court in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh heard how Vijander, a Dalit boy, had eloped with his girlfriend, Roshni. She was a member of the higher-caste Jaat community and from the same village, Mehrana, near the border with Haryana state. The couple returned to Mehrana a few days later thinking anger would have subsided, the BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi in Lucknow reports.
But village elders decreed they be killed, along with Vijander's cousin Ram Kishan, who had helped them elope. The killings took place on 22 March 1991 and were brutal - the court heard how the genitals of the deceased were burned before they were hanged from a tree.
The case came to light because the parents of the boys lodged a case against the council for ordering the killings, our correspondent says.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15759470
accessed on 18th Nov 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Death penalty 'barbaric, anti-life': SC judge
PTI | Nov 15, 2011, 07.32PM IST
NEW DELHI: Justice AK Ganguly of the Supreme court has termed the award of death sentence as "barbaric, anti-life, undemocratic and irresponsible" which is "legal" in the prevailing judicial system.
Describing this as his "personal view", Justice Ganguly said the Constitutional guarantee of right to life cannot be subjected to "vague premises".
The doctrine of the crime falling in the'rarest of rare' category in awarding the death penalty was a "grey" area as its interpretation depended on individual judges, he said, adding the "sentencing structures" should be in consonance with the goals set by the Constitution.
The remarks were made by Justice Ganguly yesterday at a two-day seminar on 'Abolition of Death Penalty in India'. The seminar was organized by the Jindal Global Law School at Sonepat in Haryana.
The sitting judge of the apex court said sending a convict to the gallows, is legal but "barbaric, anti-life, undemocratic and irresponsible"..
The guilt of an accused should be proved beyond "lingering" doubt in cases warranting the award of capital punishment, which has so far not yet been evolved.
He cautioned that before giving death penalty, a judge must be "extremely careful" and weigh "mitigating and aggravating circumstances".
The Judge said the state must adduce evidence that the accused cannot be reformed.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Death-penalty-barbaric-anti-life-SC-judge/articleshow/10742277.cms
accessed on 15th Nov 2011
NEW DELHI: Justice AK Ganguly of the Supreme court has termed the award of death sentence as "barbaric, anti-life, undemocratic and irresponsible" which is "legal" in the prevailing judicial system.
Describing this as his "personal view", Justice Ganguly said the Constitutional guarantee of right to life cannot be subjected to "vague premises".
The doctrine of the crime falling in the'rarest of rare' category in awarding the death penalty was a "grey" area as its interpretation depended on individual judges, he said, adding the "sentencing structures" should be in consonance with the goals set by the Constitution.
The remarks were made by Justice Ganguly yesterday at a two-day seminar on 'Abolition of Death Penalty in India'. The seminar was organized by the Jindal Global Law School at Sonepat in Haryana.
The sitting judge of the apex court said sending a convict to the gallows, is legal but "barbaric, anti-life, undemocratic and irresponsible"..
The guilt of an accused should be proved beyond "lingering" doubt in cases warranting the award of capital punishment, which has so far not yet been evolved.
He cautioned that before giving death penalty, a judge must be "extremely careful" and weigh "mitigating and aggravating circumstances".
The Judge said the state must adduce evidence that the accused cannot be reformed.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Death-penalty-barbaric-anti-life-SC-judge/articleshow/10742277.cms
accessed on 15th Nov 2011
Lifting of death penalty sought
KOCHI, November 15, 2011
By Special Correspondent:
The Committee Against Death Penalty has urged the Union and State governments to order a moratorium on death penalty. To press its demand for a moratorium, the committee will hold a ‘people's convention' in Thiruvananthapuram on November 28.
Prominent people from various fields will speak at the convention, which would be opened by writer Paul Zachariah, K. Rajmohan, one of the organisers of the campaign, said. He pointed out that a large number of countries had done away with death penalty. He pointed out that the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution seeking to revoke the death penalty of those sentenced in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.
Resolution
There was a move in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly to pass a resolution supporting the revocation of the death penalty given to Afzal Guru, who was sentenced in the Parliament House attack case. Mr. Rajmohan also recalled that nearly 70 years back, the then Travancore kingdom had abolished the death penalty.
Demand
Several human rights activists, criminologists and jurists the world over have been pressing for the abolition of death penalty. It was high time, he said, India dropped death penalty from its penal code. As a first step, the government should order a moratorium on death penalty and the Thiruvananthapuram convention would launch a strong campaign for this, Mr. Rajmohan said.
Committee urges governments to declare moratorium
To hold a people's convention in State capital
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2628697.ece
accessed on 15th Nov 2011
By Special Correspondent:
The Committee Against Death Penalty has urged the Union and State governments to order a moratorium on death penalty. To press its demand for a moratorium, the committee will hold a ‘people's convention' in Thiruvananthapuram on November 28.
Prominent people from various fields will speak at the convention, which would be opened by writer Paul Zachariah, K. Rajmohan, one of the organisers of the campaign, said. He pointed out that a large number of countries had done away with death penalty. He pointed out that the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution seeking to revoke the death penalty of those sentenced in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.
Resolution
There was a move in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly to pass a resolution supporting the revocation of the death penalty given to Afzal Guru, who was sentenced in the Parliament House attack case. Mr. Rajmohan also recalled that nearly 70 years back, the then Travancore kingdom had abolished the death penalty.
Demand
Several human rights activists, criminologists and jurists the world over have been pressing for the abolition of death penalty. It was high time, he said, India dropped death penalty from its penal code. As a first step, the government should order a moratorium on death penalty and the Thiruvananthapuram convention would launch a strong campaign for this, Mr. Rajmohan said.
Committee urges governments to declare moratorium
To hold a people's convention in State capital
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2628697.ece
accessed on 15th Nov 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Death penalty awarded in female infanticide case
10 Nov 2011, 08:43 - Chandigarh , Lalit Kumar
A Sangrur Court Wednesday ordered one Mukesh Kumar to be hanged to death in a case of murder of his four-day-old daughter. This award of capital punishment is perhaps the first-of-its-kind in a case of female infanticide.
Sangrur District and Sessions Judge MS Chauhan in his order noted "Five million girls were eliminated between 1986 and 2001 because of foetal sex determination done by unethical medical professionals."
In this case the victim was a new-born girl child. The judge noted that, "the accused, it seems, had scripted her obituary much before she was born. This is the story of an unnamed infant; probably this is the first decision which cannot even refer to the victim by her name. She was eliminated before she could have one!.. A smile was lost forever. The moral regression of the people of India has not been crippled by the penal laws. The policy of persuasion has failed".
The prosecution had argued that the accused intentionally caused the death of his daughter three days after her birth. The judge stated that the only punishment that can be awarded to the convict is the extreme penalty of death.
Source: http://www.lawetalnews.com/post.php?id=144
accessed on 13th Nov 2011
A Sangrur Court Wednesday ordered one Mukesh Kumar to be hanged to death in a case of murder of his four-day-old daughter. This award of capital punishment is perhaps the first-of-its-kind in a case of female infanticide.
Sangrur District and Sessions Judge MS Chauhan in his order noted "Five million girls were eliminated between 1986 and 2001 because of foetal sex determination done by unethical medical professionals."
In this case the victim was a new-born girl child. The judge noted that, "the accused, it seems, had scripted her obituary much before she was born. This is the story of an unnamed infant; probably this is the first decision which cannot even refer to the victim by her name. She was eliminated before she could have one!.. A smile was lost forever. The moral regression of the people of India has not been crippled by the penal laws. The policy of persuasion has failed".
The prosecution had argued that the accused intentionally caused the death of his daughter three days after her birth. The judge stated that the only punishment that can be awarded to the convict is the extreme penalty of death.
Source: http://www.lawetalnews.com/post.php?id=144
accessed on 13th Nov 2011
Chavan plans death penalty plea for killers
Comment (Reena Mary George): How can the State already decide how they want the trial to go? Does it not depend on rule of law? Does it not depend on how the prosecution files their case? Does it not depend how well the defense lawyers argue their case? My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the ones who have committed this crime must be punished; but only according to the rule of law. There is no scope for "Eye for an eye" in the Indian Judiciary though it seems to work that way these days.
Sunday, 06 November 2011 00:55 IST PNS | Mumbai
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday said his Government would root for death penalty to the killers of Keenan Santos (25) and Reuben Fernandes (27), who died while resisting eve-teasing of their girlfriends.
Earlier, veteran BJP leader LK Advani spoke to Keenan's father Valerian Santos over phone, expressed his shock over the incident and conveyed condolences to the bereaved family members.
Advani, who was in the city as part of the ongoing Jan Chetna Yatra, took time out to telephone Santos. He assured Santos that he would take up the matter with the Maharashtra CM and seek stringent punishment to the accused in the incident.
Meanwhile, the four accused in the murder case - Jitendra Rane (25), Satish Dulhaj (35), Sunil Bodh (20) and Deepak Tival (18) — have been remanded to judicial custody by a city court till November 18.
Chavan said, "The incident is absolutely reprehensible. We have taken very strict action. All the four persons involved in the incident have been arrested. We have requested for fast track trial of the four accused. We will demand death penalty for the accused in the heinous crime." He conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.
Keenan and Reuben were badly assaulted by a group of eve-teasers when they had gone to enjoy the India-England ODI at a restaurant in Andheri on October 20.
Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/18319-chavan-plans-death-penalty-plea-for-killers.html
accessed on 13th Nov 2011
Sunday, 06 November 2011 00:55 IST PNS | Mumbai
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday said his Government would root for death penalty to the killers of Keenan Santos (25) and Reuben Fernandes (27), who died while resisting eve-teasing of their girlfriends.
Earlier, veteran BJP leader LK Advani spoke to Keenan's father Valerian Santos over phone, expressed his shock over the incident and conveyed condolences to the bereaved family members.
Advani, who was in the city as part of the ongoing Jan Chetna Yatra, took time out to telephone Santos. He assured Santos that he would take up the matter with the Maharashtra CM and seek stringent punishment to the accused in the incident.
Meanwhile, the four accused in the murder case - Jitendra Rane (25), Satish Dulhaj (35), Sunil Bodh (20) and Deepak Tival (18) — have been remanded to judicial custody by a city court till November 18.
Chavan said, "The incident is absolutely reprehensible. We have taken very strict action. All the four persons involved in the incident have been arrested. We have requested for fast track trial of the four accused. We will demand death penalty for the accused in the heinous crime." He conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.
Keenan and Reuben were badly assaulted by a group of eve-teasers when they had gone to enjoy the India-England ODI at a restaurant in Andheri on October 20.
Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/18319-chavan-plans-death-penalty-plea-for-killers.html
accessed on 13th Nov 2011
Hindu leader suggests death penalty for conversion
A prominent Hindu nationalist leader has called for the beheading of anyone who attempts to convert Hindus to another religion.
Praveen Togadia, suggested the death penalty for religious conversions at a Hind conference, adding that the execution should be by decapitation. Father Cedric Prakash, the Jesuit director of a human-rights center, observed that such intolerance is not unusual in India today. “What Togadia has said is nothing new,” he told the AsiaNews service. He observed, however, that the Hindu zealot’s suggestion is thoroughly at odds with India’s traditional commitment to inter-religious harmony.
Source: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=12309
accessed on 13th Nov 2011
Praveen Togadia, suggested the death penalty for religious conversions at a Hind conference, adding that the execution should be by decapitation. Father Cedric Prakash, the Jesuit director of a human-rights center, observed that such intolerance is not unusual in India today. “What Togadia has said is nothing new,” he told the AsiaNews service. He observed, however, that the Hindu zealot’s suggestion is thoroughly at odds with India’s traditional commitment to inter-religious harmony.
Source: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=12309
accessed on 13th Nov 2011
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