[Reader-list] Mercy Pleas Of Prisoners sent to Death

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Kshmendra,

Thank you for brining this up, I agree with you entirely, and I find  
'death penalties' meted out either by the state, or by non-state  
insurgents, or 'freedom fighters' of any description equally heinous.

This is different from a political assasination, say of a tyrant, or  
death due to violence that occurs when people have to defend  
themselves against violence that would otherwise wipe them out. In  
the rare case of political assasination in the form of tyrannicide  
and regicide, the perpetrator does not necessarily mimic the tropes  
of justice, but acts to remove a fundamental obstacle to liberty.  
Having said this, in nine times of ten, political assasinations are  
politically unwise, desparate measures that cause more problems than  
they solve, (they usually increase not decrease the amount of state  
repression) so I would 'rationalize' them only in the rarest of rare,  
and most exceptional of cases. Had Hitler of Joseph Stalin been  
assasinated in office while they presided over massacres, it is  
possible, just possible, that this may have had a positive effect.  
This too would have to be committed, not in order to 'avenge the  
dead', but in order to prevent further death.

In the second case of defensive violence, the wielders of defensive  
violence act in order to save their own lives. But as a general rule,  
politics that takes recourse to violence as a matter of principle,  
usually ends up either defeated, or, ends up mimicing the very  
structures of oppression that it set out to combat, and thus, derails  
the cause of liberty and justice.

'Death sentences' regardless of who hands them down, are of a third  
order altogether, they are 'rewarded' as if any action could be  
compensated for or rewarded by the death of a human being. They  
either work from within a judicial framework, or, they mimic a  
judicial framework. And since I do not believe that the cause of  
justice can be served by death, once a person is held accountable and  
captive for their crime, I am totally against the death penalty in  
any form.

thanks for brining up this question,

warmly,

Shuddha


On 22-Sep-09, at 7:39 PM, Kshmendra Kaul wrote:

>
> Whatever be the crime, no civilized society should use "Death" as a  
> penalty.
>
> --- On Mon, 9/21/09, Murali V <murali.chalam at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Murali V <murali.chalam at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Mercy Pleas Of Prisoners sent to Death
> To: "A.K. Malik" <akmalik45 at yahoo.com>
> Cc: "Sarai List" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Monday, September 21, 2009, 10:48 AM
>
>
> Which is what the UPA Govt. wants as far as Afzal Guru is concerned.
>
> Murali
>
> On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 10:18 PM, A.K. Malik <akmalik45 at yahoo.com>  
> wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>        A little more for info:
>> The number of prisoners sentenced to death whose mercy petitions  
>> is pending before the President is 26 and as per SC verdict they  
>> have a right to get the death sentence commuted to life  
>> imprisonment if they are kept waiting for long for their death  
>> sentence to be executed.
>>
>> (A.K.MALIK)
>>
>>
>> --- On Sun, 9/20/09, A.K. Malik <akmalik45 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> From: A.K. Malik <akmalik45 at yahoo.com>
>>> Subject: [Reader-list] Mercy Pleas Of Prisoners sent to Death
>>> To: "Sarai List" <reader-list at sarai.net>
>>> Date: Sunday, September 20, 2009, 7:49 PM
>>> Hi All,
>>>            News Item
>>> FYI
>>> "The Supreme Court has advised the government to
>>> expeditiously dispose of mercy pleas of prisoners sentenced
>>> to death and not to use human beings "as pawns in furthering
>>> some larger political or government policy". As many as
>>> death row prisoners, including Parliament attack convict
>>> Mohammed Afzal Guru, are awaiting for a decision on their
>>> mercy pleas. The court cautioned the government that any
>>> delay in decision would amount to violation of condemned
>>> prisoners' right to life with dignity."
>>>
>>> (A.K.MALIK)
>>>
>>>
>>>
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net