Capital Punishment

It's nearly 2 years since Kasab, the terrorist involved in 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was sentenced to death. However, he hasn't been hanged to death yet and whenever we hear any news about him, most of us say that he should have been killed by now. Are we right when we say that? Considering the fact that he brutally killed many people, he does deserve to be severely punished. However, is capital punishment the right choice? Isn’t there any other way to punish such a heartless terrorist?

I am neither a human rights activist nor a supporter of any bloody terrorist. However, I oppose death sentence in any form, be it hanging, lethal injection or electric chair. None of us have the right to destroy something that we do not own. How can we then take the life of another human being? Killing someone can not be treated as victory. In my opinion, the real victory is when such a terrorist repents and does something good to the society with remorse. I agree that expecting a terrorist to become a good citizen is odd. However, when the terrorist organizations are able to brainwash youth to become suicide bombers, can’t the police (at least with the help of psychiatrists) brainwash these terrorists to become good over a period of years?

Many countries have abolished death sentence. How is the victim who, in most cases, is already dead, going to benefit from the criminal’s death? I don’t mean to say that he should be released into the society. An alternative for capital punishment is life imprisonment without parole. Forcing the criminals to labour hard for at least 10 hours a day and giving the ‘earned’ money to the victims’ families is a far better alternative than capital punishment. The tough manual labour the criminal is made to do in jail, should make him cry, ‘Why am I struggling like this? My life would have been good had I not committed this crime.’

Now, looking at the other side of the coin, there are people who argue that it is not possible to keep such terrorists in jail as his fellow-terrorists will resort to anything to take him out. Aren’t we wrong to say, ‘since we are inefficient to keep him locked up in jail, we will kill him.’? Are his fellow-terrorists going to stop their anti-social activities if he is hanged to death? Definitely not.


The debate of whether or not there should be capital punishment is never-ending. This debate has been for centuries and there may never be a unanimous conclusion on this issue. We all can just hope that there will be an ideal society in future in which we don’t find any anti-social elements and never have the need to even think about capital punishment.

There has been a really long gap between the previous post which I wrote and this one. The reason (excuse :)) is, I was in search of an interesting topic. Feel free to comment on this post. I would also like you to tell me a topic to write my next blog on.:)

Self motivation

There was a young boy who came regularly to soccer practice but never made it to the starting team. While he was practicing, his father would sit at the far end of the field, waiting for him. The matches began and for four days, the boy didn’t show up for practice or the quarter or semi-finals.

The boy appeared for the final game, went to the coach and said, “Coach, you have always kept me in the reserves and never let me play in the games. But today, please let me play.” The coach said, “Son, I’m sorry, I can’t let you. There are better players than you and besides, it is the finals; the reputation of the school is at stake and I cannot take a chance on you.”

The boy pleaded, “Coach, I promise I will not let you down. I beg of you, please let me play.” The coach had never seen the boy plead like this before. He said, “Okay son, go play. But remember, I am going against my better judgment and the reputation of the school is at stake. Don’t let me down.”

The game started and the boy played like a house on fire. Every time he got the ball, he shot a goal. Needless to say, he was the star of the game. His team had a spectacular win.

When the game finished, the coach went up to him and said, “Son, how could I have been so wrong? I have never seen you play like this before. What happened? How did you play so well?” The boy replied, “Coach, my father is watching me today.” The coach turned around and looked at the place where the boy’s father used to sit. There was no one there. He said, “Son, your father used to sit there when you came for practice, but I don’t see anyone there today.” The boy replied, “Coach, there is something I never told you. My father was blind. Just four days ago, he died. Today is the first day he is watching me from above.”



P.S: Unlike all my earlier posts, this is not written by me. This is one of the best short stories I've ever read and felt like sharing it here. Isn't this story superb?