Capital punishment | Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's Caravan

I had written few years back Death Penalty: A Free Pass to kill Dalits and Minorities? but the death of Ex President Dr. Abdul Kalam has reminded me his views on death penalty.

He had said, ‘Why does the capital punishment confine only to the weaker sections (Dalits and Muslims) of the Indian society?’ – Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam

In case you are supporting the death penalty of Yakub Memon, stop shedding crocodile tears over the death of Dr. Abdul Kalam because you are not following what he had said about death penalty. He was in favor of abolition of death penalty.

The best tribute to Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam would be abolishing the death penalty.

Those who are saying, he was a great man, great scientist or what not, must know that he also had said that “almost all capital punishment cases which were pending had a social and economic bias: in other words, the death penalty is mostly reserved for the poor.”

These days, every now and then voices are getting louder for death penalty and right to recall. I don’t think death penalty is a ‘truck’ that any ‘driver’ can run over and escape without analysing the facts and realities behind the death penalty. Almost same is true for the right to recall as proposed by so called self proclaimed ‘honest society’ of few unrepresented people after murdering the democracy. In this article, I will analyse few facts and realities through a Dalit’s eyes on death penalty.

Death Penalty

After Madras High Court’s order last week staying the execution of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s three killers has led to debate over should we eliminate death penalty or retain it? Court also asked the government to explain why it took 11 long years for president to reject the mercy plea? Doesn’t it show that our supreme power, president, is not as much capable of taking a decision or working under the pressure from the political parties? Now, those who say there must be death penalty in India, have they considered the 11 long years of suffering the families of these people? For them it might have been dying daily and so called governments murdered these families for 11 years!

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