Rule of Law ? or Whims of a few?

A Delhi court recently pronounced Afsal Guroo, one of the main accused in the attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001 as guilty. And the punishment .... "To be hanged until death".

Some truths....
1. We all love to hate our politicians. Most of us consider them as the bane to this country. And wish .... at almost every traffic signal that somebody should bomb all these politicians out of the country.
2. But, the Indian Parliament however is considered as the home of the Indian Democratic system and a powerful symbol of modern India. An attack on a such an important symbol is unpardonable in the eyes of (almost) all Indians.
3. The lower courts were not very sure of the legitimacy of the case against Afzal Guroo and others and suspected foul play by the investigating agencies.
4. The people arguing on behalf of Afzal Guroo claim that he was not given a chance to prove his innocence, that he has been falsely implicated.
5. The people of Jammu & Kashmir have been having a horrid time for a while now. Life in the valley is under the constant shadow of the Gun. And is struggling to limp back to normalcy.

Clearly, the issues involved are totally different and cannot be mentioned in the same breath. Local politicians however see this as an opportunity to rise in stature in the heady mix of state politics. In the days following the SC verdict, narrow minded (terrorists under the garb of) political leaders mixed the issues involved, raised a hue and cry, whipping public sentiment to a feverish frenzy and caused unrest in the valley. They demanded clemency for Afzal, a failure of which they claimed would lead to Kashmir "burning".

Yaseen Malik, the leader of the JKLF(on the Indian side) claims that he himself "was one of the products of the last hanging of a Kashmiri". He seems to issue veiled threats of a "burning" Kashmir. Infact even the ex-Cheif Minister of J&K Dr Abdullah seemed to echo his words. Even the Central Government too tried to maintain a sturdy silence rather than supporting the verdict of the court. Is this really a belief that Afzal Guroo is not guilty or just an oppotunity to score the brownie points of Indian politics.

An attack on the heart of the Indian Democratic system is an unpardonable crime. And the people guilty of it must be given the severe most punishment by the law of the land. The Indian Penal code provides the death penalty as a punishment under the rarest of rare cases. And this attack on the Indian Parliament can be considered as a case under the rarest of rare cases. And so the guilty must be "hanged unto death". Yes, there is a demand from a few quarters for abolishing the "death penalty". But once again, that is a different issue and should not be mixed with the main debate of clemency for Afzal Guroo.

When the Supreme Court of India pronounced that Afzal Guroo was guilty and meted out the death penalty, it was fully aware of the element of doubt observed by the lower courts. The SC must then have been fully convinced beyond doubt that indeed Afzal was guilty. And hence must have meted him the harshest of punishments. If however, there still exists sufficient evidence to prove that he is not guilty, or that he was not given a fair hearing, the demand of these leaders must be for a free & fair trial and not clemency on the basis of a "burning" Kashmir.

As Solee Sorabjee, the ex Chief Justice of India rightly pointed out, what if tommorrow, when the verdict of the Gujarat riots case is announced and the guilty is given the death penalty. And if the political leaders of Gujarat seek clemency on the basis of a "burning" Gujarat. Should they too be pardoned ? Will these same leaders then seek clemency once again?

We live in a modern society where we live by the law of the land. Not by the whims of a few who probably have vested intrests in seeking clemency for Afzal. If Afzal Guroo is indeed guilty of the heinous crime of the attack on the Indian Parliament, then he must be meted out the severest punishment by the law of the land. And if the law of the land provides capital punishment as the severest form of punishment. Then so be it.