Monday 16 December 2019

Felony and Lenity


Hello Readers

Hope you all are doing well.

I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.

-Steven Wright

Before we start, want you to keep this word in mind “Clemency” simply meaning mercy or leniency.

In this blog:
  •     The recent brutal gang rape and murder in Hyderabad India and its after math.

  •      The Rape accused in the 2015 Delhi Nirbhaya case commenting about Delhi pollution and his application for clemency to the honourable  president of India.

1   .  What happened in Hyderabad? On the 27 of November 2019.
A brutal rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor in the wee hours by four miscreants posing to help her when she was back where she had parked her vehicle and noticed it had a flat tire.

This case is considered one of the brutal cases after the infamous Nirbaya case in Delhi.

I could post the whole story, which is going on in the media, but, everyone would have read and heard about it all over the media that is not my intention.

The summary of what happened is, a lady late in her twenties was on her way back home   noticed her vehicle Tyre was punctured and was lured by some lorry drivers who offered to fix her vehicle eventually assaulting her sexually, murdered her and burnt her!

What a sad state of affairs in India, are we in such a society that we can’t protect the dignity and safety of our women! Whom we worship as goddesses of different forms!

A famous Sanskrit quote:

"Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra Devata, 
yatraitaastu na pujyante sarvaastatrafalaah kriyaah "

 This famous shloka from Manusmruthi which means: where Women are honoured, divinity blossoms there, and where women are dishonoured, all action no matter how noble remains unfruitful.

This was the culture our elders had thought us, but I don’t know why everything contradictory is happening in India.

I sincerely do not believe by comparing the statistics of other country and feeling happy that we are better off, we should think about setting up an example not by comparing with others.

This incident took a different turn when police encountered the accused just a week after during a normal crime reconstruction exercise, when the accused tried to escape and also shoot at the police, in retaliation the police exterminated them!

While the whole country has different opinions about this, at one hand people saying it was a perfect thing what they have done, on the other side people saying that judicial procedure should have taken place! So that the accused could have their say.

Personally, if the people who were shot down were the real perpetrators of the crime, then they deserve to die! There is an enquiry going on the encounter hope the police come out clean.

2. The Delhi Nirbaya case: Clemency!
I was sipping my coffee one winter morning last week; I was amazed to read that the accused Akshay Kumar was seeking clemency!

One of the four men convicted in the 2012 Nirbaya rape and murder case has asked the Supreme Court to spare him the death penalty since life in Delhi is by default getting “short” due to air and water pollution. No, you read that right. This absurd argument finds a mention in a plea filed by Akshay Singh Thakur requesting the Supreme Court to review his conviction in the Nirbaya rape and murder case.

Akshay Singh Thakur -- the lone convict not to have filed a review plea -- has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a review of his conviction in the Nirbaya rape and murder case. The petition brings up points of law, argues that Akshay was incorrectly convicted and talks about capital punishment which is abolished in various countries.

At one point, Akshay’s review petition inexplicably brings up Delhi’s air quality. “... It is important to pertain here that Air Quality of Delhi NCR ( National Captial region)  and the metro city is burst and as a gas chamber... the water of Delhi NCR and the metro city is also full of poison... Everyone is aware of what is happening in Delhi NCR concerning water and air,” the petition says before asking a simple question.
“Life is short too short, then why the death penalty? [sic]"  

Courtesy: (https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/nirbhaya-rape-murder-akshay-singh-thakur-supreme-court-review-delhi-air-water-pollution-1627071-2019-12-10)

Can you believe a rape accused who has lost all his legal means to defend himself can talk like this!

Now about the clemency: We have a supreme court in India which is considered the highest body of the judiciary, but the accused still has a chance to apply to the president of India to grant him life imprisonment instead of hanging till death!

The law in India: Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution
Grant of pardon wipes off the guilt of accused and brings him to the original position of innocence as if he had never committed the offence for which he was charged. Under Indian law, the President of India and the Governors of States have been given the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence. The law governing the grant of pardon is contained in Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution. 

(courtesy: https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/administrative-law/power-to-pardon-an-analysis-law-essays.php)

This law is there only for the innocent who are framed wrongly, not for a convicted person who has committed such a brutal crime that humanity can't even imagine.

I strongly feel there should be a constitutional amendment to be made in this regard.

The provision should only be awarded for the accused who are actually innocent. I urge the honourable president of India to reject the petition at the earliest and order the accused to face the gallows.

The purpose of the law is to protect its people, and people created the law; therefore, corrections should be made when the law is not serving its purpose!

 
Courtesy: Google images
  
We talk about law, evidence, forensic study, proving who is guilty and the terms of the punishment, we should also think about the poor souls who were cut short of their lives and were used as a material forgetting all human values, and the pain they went through, all of their life ambitions just smashed because of such thugs, is not unfair?

Please let me know your comments on this post.
Thanks a lot for your time.

Helios.

Tussle- Story about a fight.

Hello Readers   I hope you all are doing great; it has been a long time since I wrote a blog, I have been a bit busy, but it is a great fe...