Saturday, August 26, 2006

WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY?

Why are YOU covering your face you bast*rd, it is HER face that you have destroyed!Acid-throwing is not a new type of cannibalism. However, the recent case of Joseph Rodrigues who threw acid on a 20-year-old girl, destroying her eyesight and disfiguring her (couldn't digest my food after seeing her face) is disturbing, more for the court judgement than the incident itself.

A sessions court in Karnataka had sentenced him to a mere five-year jail term and imposed a fine of Rs. 3 lakh for "voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapon or means". On further appeal, just last week, Rodrigues was sentenced to life imprisonment for "attempt to murder".

You learn something new every day. I learnt yesterday that "life imprisonment" does not really mean "imprisonment for life", and the convict is not jailed till he/she dies. It is only a stipulated number of years. Supreme Court says, "it must be treated as imprisonment for the whole of the remaining period of the convict's natural life".

So what about the remaining period of the victim's natural life? Click here for the 'Before-After' picture of the girl. Her name, ironically, is Haseena.

But then, what can I say when even a rape convict in this country gets away with five or ten years' imprisonment. Will anything less than methodical slicing of the convicts' penises in full public display suffice? That too after his entire property is sold off, made to work like a dog and the money given to the victim. None of this makes the victim's life better, but it will serve as deterrent to many such vile monsters.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely agree to your comment about rapists....they deserve the most severe punishment out there....and cleansing a man of his manhood wouldbe a good start according to me....

Kishore

Anonymous said...

you are right vinesh. these people should be more severely punished. before a few years a man raped a nurse . the nurse was mentally affected due to this and her marraige was also cancelled but the man came out after a few years of imprisonment.is it fair?

Mysorean said...

vinesh:
What you are saying is equal to killing the convicts with a valid reason! But you are still killing him!

Of course, rapists need to be dealt with harshly. Point taken. But they also need to be given a chance to repent and change for the better.

Life imprisonment is jail for 14 years. Which I think has been decided by a group of knowledgeable people and I stand by it. It is good enough to provoke thought in the convict's mind and repentance and provide for room to change. If 14 years can't change him then nothing can.

I am sure you have seen 'Virumandi' where the matter of death penalty has been analyzed well. It brings out good points against the penalty. And I seem to agree with it.

Unknown said...

Adi, good point there, but do you think that is a factor good enough to deter any1 from commiting the crime, esp. the top brass casanovas?? I agree with Vinesh. The laws of the middle east Muslim countries seem right atleast in this case !

Jeevan said...

very cruel act!

How do we know said...

Vinesh.. more than anything else.. i like the anger in your post. I was associated with a girl like that once.. on whom acid was thrown by her suitor. As far as I am concerned, returning the favor should be a natural punishment. In jail, the guy gets food, does not get up every morning not wanting to see his own face.. really, jail serves no purpose.

How do we know said...

And yes.. this is a very neat blog!!

Anonymous said...

The Before and after snaps are extremely disturbing.And yes,the life imprisonment should indeed be altered into a life imprisonment.

And thanks for visiting!

Prasanna Parameswaran said...

Hey ur article was really disturbing. I too dont necessarily agree with the concept of Rigorous Imprisonment- People get 14 years, but that doesnt help u much either, for there are a few who lead a flamboyant life during their RI and come out as fresh and menacing as ever! People dont realize the power of punishment until something really affects them - gone are those days when forgiveness help people realize their mistakes. In this fast changing world punishment needs to be severe to instill a fear in people - so that others will atleast refrain from doing bad just for the fear of punishment. In all these situation I would not mind if a hand or leg is taken off like the Arabian way!

tulipspeaks said...

that fella should be hanged to death. thats my verdict.

btwn, thanks for the visit :)

=ammu=

Vinesh said...

@Kishore: Remember the video we saw back in college da.. of this guy who's thing is chopped off cos he misbehaved with some women?

@anonymous: certainly not fair. am glad she wasn't married off to the rapist

Vinesh said...

@adi: My point is summed up in ur first line. But i will rearrange the order.

I am killing him. But with a valid reason.

"If 14 years can't change him then nothing can. "
That would totally be not fair!

@jayan: you also see this my way.. hmm..
I guess I should see Virumandi!

Vinesh said...

@jeevan: yup!

@how do we know: that's a way to put it. this is why i think some crimes have no remediation measures.

@how do we know: thanks :-)

@hamsini: i can't even begin to imagine what is must be like for Haseena

Vinesh said...

@indianangel: you are right, but as long as there are mercy organisations in existence, i doubt if capital punishment will be enforced. moreover there is always the fear of administrators misusing this.

@amutha: especially if you've known someone who's been through the same or similar agony, then there's no other soft corner left for the person who destroyed him/her

Sravanthi said...

I could not bring myself to see the pictures. Violence against women is very very disturbing but yet very very common. After every story like this you learn to stop flinching and just be happy it's not you.

I agree with how do you know. Period

Anonymous said...

Yes man, exactly what I was thinking....was mentioning about that video to someone else as well....and i am not really for capital punishment, if a crime is so heinous that the person who comitted it deserves to be put to death, then I feel death is just too easy on the person....s/he deserves something that would make another person stop and think before comitting a similar crime....i dont think death would acheive that....radical views, yeah, but tell me something else that might work....

Kishore

kuttichuvaru said...

disturbing...... point well made..... as a matter of fact, it is the victim n not the accused who goes through a 'life imprisonment' (mentally n emotionally) and the accused gets out of the jail in a few years time!!

Unknown said...

Honestly nothing can bring back the old life to the victim or her family. Ironically a punishment she gets most of the time...for no fault of hers!

thanks for stopping by.

Rashmi.

Mysorean said...

vinesh:
When you look at it from Haseena's point of view you have a very very valid point.

But there are so many other points of view. It's just about looking at them. When emotions rule, that's the end of objectivity.

Maybe I need to agree that I disagree with you and leave it at that.

Anonymous said...

First the 60 yr old mother who lost her child, and this. I wonder how you manage to find stories like this which leave me very distressed. Our country has given a free hand to all the criminals by glorifying them and letting them out easy. Go watch movies and the humane side of such a person is shown. Just making a few snide remarks can be so mentally disturbing for a person, so imagine how much physical torture will amount to.

After seeing such atrocious acts, I think we should spend more time, money, and energy in getting the criminals punished and sent to prison (rigorous imprisonment) than working in other parts. Look the at killers of Jessica Lal, and Salman Khan for an example, of what a poor life is worth here.

Vinesh said...

@sravanthi: it's sad what we have come to. i agree, but sometimes you just thank god that it's not you!

@kishore: maybe we should import some such "governors" here, da :-)

@kuttichuvaru: yes, and that's pathetic!

Vinesh said...

@randomthoughts: gone is gone... hmm..

@adi: i'm sure i don't see this objectively adi. i appreciate your opinion though. it's just that i've been in close contact with someone who's been through that trauma.. and is no more now.. i guess i'll never be objective about this!

@anonymous: wow, you remember that old post! i'm impressed! what's your name :-)

i agree that a lot of killers are roaming out there freely..

Gladtomeetin said...

Very Ironical Truth.....Totally Agree with you in case of punishment to the rapists!!!!