Irreplaceable penalty

Execution should not be seen as a violation of human rights of the convict, rather restoration of the human rights of the victim. Moreover, death sentences are not awarded in every penal offence. We, in India follow the doctrine of ‘rarest of the rare’. If death penalty is abolished, maximum punishment which can be awarded in penal offences is life imprisonment. And in India ‘life imprisonment’ does not mean that the convict will spend his entire life in prison until natural death. One can get away with life imprisonment after spending around 14 years in jail.

So if death penalty is abolished, then the meaning of ‘life imprisonment’ needs to be modified. But such a situation may also lead to trouble if instances like kidnapping or hijacking start taking place in order to get the convict freed from jail.

KSHITIJ GUPTA, Narwana

II

In his article, “Beyond the hanging of Kasab” (December 13) Justice Rajinder Sachar (retd) has said that “Kasab should not have been hanged and kept as a continuous illustration of Pakistan’s  involvement (whether official or non-official) in the Mumbai terrorist attack.”

Kasab was one of the perpetrators of the worst crime against the nation and was brought to justice. Keeping him alive on any pretext would have been a total miscarriage of justice.

RAM VARMA, via e-mail

Go global

Our GDP rate has plummeted from a healthy 9 per cent to 5.5 per cent in three years alone. It is partly due to global recession and partly because of the destructive role our politicians are playing.

FDI or no FDI, protectionism or no protectionism, we must face the truth that in the present global scenario, mutual co-existence among nations would decide our stature at the international level. By shouting down and indulging in mud slinging at opponents in Parliament or on television channels, would only expose our hollow side. Today’s Opposition may be the ruling dispensation tomorrow and may have to face the same music that they are playing for the ruling coalition now.

TEK CHAND, Una (HP)

Provide facility

The decision of the Punjab Government to increase the number of seats in the MBBS courses at Government Medical College, Patiala and GMC, Amritsar by 100 each from the forthcoming academic session is neither in the interest of the aspiring doctors nor the state.

Teaching faculty, infrastructure, paramedics, equipments, laboratories and hospitals attached to these two medical colleges are not sufficient to even teach the present batch of 150 students. If the state government is really interested in delivering, it must first improve infrastructure and faculty in these medical colleges.

Dr NARESH RAJ, Patiala

Biased recruitment

The President’s bodyguards consist of Jats, Rajputs and Sikhs only and no other youth of any other caste is eligible to be recruited in this unit of the Army, whatever the caliber of the individual ( news report ‘End caste, religion barriers in Army recruitment: PIL’, December 11).

More than 65 years after independence, the British legacy of discrimination still persists in the Indian Army and a certain section of the Army brass still advocates the need of recruitment based on caste, region and religion. In a free democratic country like India, recruitment to Army should not be the privilege of certain dominant castes and regions; merit alone should be the sole criteria for recruitment.

RAO AJIT SINGH, Gurgaon

‘Idealism’ lost

No doubt, the post-independence India has witnessed tremendous material progress almost in every walk of life. However, somewhere on the way, the “idealism” that brought freedom to the country vanished. And this has made all the difference. As a consequence, “power brokers” and “criminals” have displaced the motivated and devoted leaders. Little wonder that pursuit of power and money are driving people towards politics. Will the trend ever reverse in the near future?