By Sanket Sheth:
“Ajmal Kasab hanged” — this headline, in a nation where law has acted quicker on facebook users and cartoonists posting against corruption and ho-hum against murderers and graft-ridden politicians, has come as a relief. The thorn is out of the toe. Every Indian has rejoiced this audacity of the government of taking the bull by horns. The kindred’s of martyrs and victims have felt the shower of justice. The impuissance veiled under the pretext of goodness has been shredded and a new face of govt. has come in, which has a history of appeasing minority at the cost of national security and benefit of society at large.
When all this was coming fresh, the speculations of Kasab dying on dengue started doing the ride. The rife was that with terrorist already dead and govt. already mired in scams, this news could come as a face saver. Such was the elation of the news that it overshadowed the news about Bal Thackeray’s death. Although I was never a great patronage of Bal Thackeray, this decision got to be the true homage to the right wing politico. News about hanging the already dead has though lost the essence of flower, what it has not lost is the look of it. It has proved on the international forum the tough stand of Indian authorities. But more appealing is the fact about the secrecy of the operation maintained and the ripping up of the supine role of President in Indian political scenario by Pranab Mukherjee. He has shown the claws of law which his former had failed to do. His tough stance on mass murderer has won him a good popularity, otherwise the case would have been still looming the courts of indecisiveness. Another positivistic point is the law, which lately being in the news for all the wrong reasons has finally got it right. They have captured the true culprit and booked him.
But amidst all this exuberance, some oppugns are remaining at large. Will this capital punishment dampen the spirits of the terrorist? Will this instil a feeling of security into the citizens of country who see govt. as a symbol of impotency while tackling with terrorism? Capital punishment, or for that sake any punishment, is awarded with a view to deter the actions and spirit of potent anti-social elements (in this case, anti human). The very essence of the action lies in this ideology. If the anti-national and anti-human elements succeed in juxtaposing hanging with martyrdom, all this action will prove to be futile. The work of the media particularly lies in suppressing any call by terrorist to follow this example. Such news should not be aired keeping in the mind the benefits of society at large and not going by the vested interests of revenue.
P.S.: While I was writing this piece, I saw a post on FB: “Rest in Hell: Kasab”. I hope law does not book them for hurting religious sentiments.