Statement opposing enactment of new law sanctioning death penalty
Kirity Roy
Statement opposing enactment of new law sanctioning death penalty
West Bengal Government proposed a new anti-rape bill that introduces capital punishment for those convicted of rape if the victim either dies or is left in a vegetative state and The West Bengal Legislative Assembly has passed this Bill yesterday titled 'Aparajita Woman and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024'. BJP MLAs also supported the bill as major opposition party in West Bengal. This legislation comes after tragic rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Recent a horrific crime has occurred, deeply rattling the nation's conscience. A 31-year-old doctor was brutally raped and killed in her working place—the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, a state-run institution, on 9th August, 24. This incident pointed towards the negligence of the State Health department, police investigation, and crippled administration of West Bengal Government. To protest against this heinous crime and corrupted system, every citizen of West Bengal is moving out to the street and raising their voice for justice for about a month. Under this circumstances, West Bengal Government announced this anti-rape Bill to divert the movement.
The death penalty is not a definitive answer to crime, as it fails to address the root causes and complexities of criminal behaviour. There are no conclusive empirical studies that show the death penalty deters crime. It is unaccepted for a civilized society that killers need to be killed as it perpetuates the cycle of violence. Article 21 of Indian Constitution and Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) both state that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person and death penalty violets both. A total of 112 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, while 9 others have done so for common law offenses. Additionally, 23 nations are in the process of abolishing capital punishment. However, 55 countries, including India, continue to retain the death penalty.
We can not reject that the struggle for women’s emancipation cannot be separated from the struggle against the hierarchical patriarchy in India. Its unfortunate that laws, courts, parliaments, ministries are happy to embrace this flawed system.
In Nirvaya rape and murder case, Justice Verma Committee pointed out that-"in the larger interests of society, and having regard to the current thinking in favour of abolition of the death penalty, and also to avoid the argument of any sentencing arbitrariness, we are not inclined to recommend the death penalty." But, ruling political parties are arguing on encounter, death penalty as result of justice for personal and political gain. Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” is a lesson for us that violence can not be the solution for another violence. The politics of revenge and state-sanctioned killings sustain cycles of violence. True leadership seeks reconciliation, not retribution.
Kirity Roy
Secretary, MASUM
4 September 2024
Secretary
Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha
(MASUM)
&
National Convenor (PACTI)
Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity
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