-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | | | | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | | | | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since it is very clear that our country has become a hot and safe destination for terrorist acts, the need for a national debate on a new anti-terror law assumes urgency. The issue of the death penalty needs to be looked into.
It is interesting to note the retiring Chief Justice of India, R.C.Lahoti, expressing the need for the continuance of death penalty while the incoming Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal has already expressed his personal view that capital punishment has to be done away with. Our President Dr APJ Kalam is also against the death penalty. However, he has not told us what is to be done when we see the tragedies of families whose loved ones are brutally killed, injured or totally uprooted on account of dastardly acts whose perpetrators plant bombs killing so many and unleash fear and terror in the minds of innocent people. Should mercy be shown to those who commit gruesome and bloodcurdling murders? Acts of terror cannot be allowed to continue. There has to be a political will to act and to study the issue through scientific methodology and vigorous investigation. In times when politicians are exceeding their powers that the independence of the judiciary is of paramount importance and in no way should it be allowed to be subordinate to the executive or legislature. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh should ensure that his government does not rush into the hurriedly drafted bill to pin accountability on High Court and Supreme Court judges, an issue which needs to be looked into but very cautiously. Had it not been for a vigilant and pro active judiciary, Lalu and Pappu Yadav's lawlessness would have engulfed from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. It would be appropriate that the issue of judicial accountability be very carefully looked into by the Law Commission which should be entrusted the job of drafting a model and realistic bill on the issue as nobody should be above the law, judicial officers included. Aires Rodrigues
