Bharat Rakshak

One was ready to declare that Kasab was not a Muslim because no religion promotes violence ,

yet we've been told what Kasab's final words were and they sure seem to point towards his being a Muslim

Death sentences are given out based on strict established guidelines. These sentences get upheld after various appeals. If you ask me; it really requires good struggle from the criminal, to get a death sentence awarded to him in India

Instead of religion it would be based on a "common cause" (Ealem or what ever is the latest mumbo jumbo). So in effect any organised group will be able to ensure that none of the criminals in their midst ever see the gallows. And only the disorganised group, or some poor murderer who did not have a clue on the justice system would be actually executed. Any pressure group based criminal would have biriyanis and sit in prison.

Vina ji, everything you've said here in response is spot on - that Islam deserves scrutiny. I say, or agree with you, that it's unacceptable components [Jihadism, Religion above Country] should be suppressed, forgotten, dare I say - shunned.

It worries me though when Indians,...
Then what?

Your worries and the "debate" are something I rejoice. That is an indication that we are a healthy democracy and not a nation of brain dead lemmings dancing to a totalitarian and absolutist tune.

So, if using the flexibility, the President doesn't carry out the death sentence for say Afzal Guru, but commutes to life in prison, based on cogent reasons, then one should accept that with grace

But isn't the human rights movement an "organized group" as well that seeks to make sure..

That is an indication that we are a healthy democracy and not a nation of brain dead lemmings dancing to a totalitarian and absolutist tune.

Vina ji, everything you've said here in response is spot on - that Islam deserves scrutiny. I say, or agree with you, that it's unacceptable components [Jihadism, Religion above Country] should be suppressed, forgotten, dare I say - shunned.

It worries me though when Indians, both Hindus and Muslims, from different corners of India, lament Kasab's execution for various reasons, viz. inviting more terrorism, being a disproportionate response, being inhuman, and perhaps some others. If we think that paying crores per year for his repentance in isolation would've been worthwhile then I would suggest that perhaps we grossly misunderstand the tsunami of:
(1) "non-state" (I say Government-sponsored)
(2) naadaan (I say young and energetic)
(3) "brainwashed" (I say trained)
(4) gunmen (I say terrorists)
that could well be in our future.

Then what?

Moreover, I'm not promoting anything like eye-for-an-eye or Sharia law. I'm only defending the right to execute a person who trained for a long period of time, then took a boat towards India, killed the crew of another fishing vessel and entered Indian waters, dispersed on reaching land for pre-assigned destinations, then purposely went about his mission of maximising the number of people he could kill. If this is a result of brainwashing then I'm surprised he even remembers his home address.

I think it is cold and calculated murder and I think he paid the right price for it.

day by day B Raman makes it very obvious of his leaning toward Congress as well as WKK.
Sometimes I wonder if he has allowed himself to be sold-off to unkil-auntie.

Pawan Singh son of Mammu Singh said, "My father's last wish was to hang Afzal Guru and Kasab but he could not do that as he died in 2011. Till his last breath he was waiting for orders to do the honours. Pawan Singh's great grandfather Lakshman Majeera, a hangman during the British rule, had put to gallows on Shaheed Bhagat Singh. My father always felt ashamed while talking about his lineage, but I have reclaimed my family's respect by hanging Kasab".

Ajmal Kasab was hanged to death in the early hours of November 21 as a terrorist and as a killer. When he grew up in rural Pakistan, he had had only his primary education, and his parents were poor.

He was doubtless driven to despair, eventually becoming a hardened operator. Society made him a criminal and a murderer. He was of course guilty of the 26/11 round of killings and havoc in Mumbai.

Nevertheless, killing him secretly should be seen as injustice. Handing down the death sentence is a crime, and resort to the means of hanging makes it even more horrendous. In many ways, we are all guilty — all of humanity that abetted his killing and burial but could not reform him.

In my humble view, all humane societies, especially a society that swears by the Indian Constitution that is rooted in compassion, should abolish judicial executions. Mahatma Gandhi was against it. So was Jawaharlal Nehru.

Much more humane and touching has been the kindly attitude of Sonia Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi was brutally killed, and some of those who plotted and moved for the murder were sentenced to death.

Sonia Gandhi, a mother with a gentle heart, wrote thus to President K.R. Narayanan, spelling out her views against the hanging of her husband’s murderers.

She wrote: “[The] Supreme Court of India has confirmed the death sentence on four persons who were responsible for the assassination of my beloved husband Rajiv Gandhi.

“Our family does not think that the four held responsible for the heinous murder of my dear husband must be hanged. My son, my daughter or myself do not wish that the four murderers be hanged.

“In particular, we do not at all wish Nalini, mother of an eight-year-old child, to be hanged. I am aware how my children miss their father and we do not want another child to lose its parents together and get orphaned.

“As you are well aware, my children Rahul and Priyanka and myself are suffering untold mental agony day in, day out due to the loss of our beloved Rajiv. But neither my children nor myself would like the persons responsible for my husband’s tragic end to be hanged.

“Hence I humbly request you to stop their hanging and grant them pardon when they seek your clemency.”

When I was Kerala Home Minister in the 1950s, I had occasion to handle some pleas for commutation of the death sentence. In all those cases, I favoured the avoidance of the death sentence. Even as the State Governor was trying to express his views in one particular case, I intervened and said, no. In two cases I had strongly opposed the death sentence, and my view appealed to Lord Scarman, sitting in the Privy Council. He wrote to me an unusual letter mentioning how he was deeply touched by my passionate opposition to the death sentence.

Indeed, half the number of nations of our world have abolished the death sentence — including Great Britain. Lord Mountbatten was treacherously assassinated. But the assassin was not given the death sentence. For, Great Britain had abolished the death penalty. Even in the United States, many States have no provision for the death sentence. I have no doubt in my heart that Gandhiji’s country should not have killed Ajmal Kasab, who was after all young, and belonged to a poor family. Pakistani or not, he was a human being.

(The writer is a former Supreme Court judge.)

A question of rights and wrongs - By bleeding heart V.R. Krishna Iyer

A question of rights and wrongs - By bleeding heart V.R. Krishna Iyer

Many countries have abolished detah penalty, can you name them ?
How many of these countries are facing a terror situtation since past 25 year ? NAME THEM.

Idiot VRK - another senile coot

Yea sonia was seeming kind to nalini but as for the masterminds - thats another story

The best solution is that all these people with gentle hearts can come together and live in specific areas. And when Pakis are poor and desperate and decide to resort to terrorism then they can go to these specific areas and show their frustration. Then these gentle hearts can forgive them by not filing cases against them.

Perhaps Sonia Gandhi can live in that colony with them in a house well lit and whose blue prints are put on Internet.

Since YOU ASKED WELLY LOUDLY:

France
United Kingdom
Colombia
Russia (frozen since 1996, effectively halted 2009)
Israel (limited to cases of high treason and genocide)

P.S. Took me about as long to find this information on Google as it did for you to express your outrage and indignation.

Now which of these countries is facing the type of insurgency / low intensity war / what-ever-you-call-it ?

A question of rights and wrongs - By bleeding heart V.R. Krishna Iyer

These are mere words & Indians are anyways peace loving. Why doesnt our bleeding heart try for a greater impact by relocating to Kasab-land and try to reform Kasab's types?

Shhhh quiet !!!!

Thanks for naming these countries, I was too lazy to do it.

Now which of these countries is facing the type of insurgency / low intensity war / what-ever-you-call-it ?

Probably None !!

Israel ? Yes !!

But Israel does not take prisoners ! It probably finishes them off on the battlefield !!!!!

Israel and Russia both face insurgencies comparable with what we face.

The broader point is that not all countries believe that the death penalty is necessary to succeed against terrorism. And that the talking points labelling the UPA as "pseudo-seculars soft on terrorism to appease Muslims who are after all the most terroristic of terrorists" are a political strategy wielded by a pseudo-nationalist opposition whose warriors are rather more proficient at taking out unarmed minorities than armed terrorists and their handlers.

Furthermore India routinely eliminates suspected insurgents on and off the battlefield.

^ Amitabh, please clear this for me. Shooting down terrorist is acceptable but not the hanging; or both are not acceptable?