Who would Jesus hang ?

Some weeks ago, CNN/IBN flashed me the news on my mobile that Muhammad Afzal, one of the main accused in the case relating to the attack on the Indian Parliament, was to be hanged at Tihar Jail, not far from where I live, on October 20th. Later on, the news was that perhaps his lawyers will appeal to the President and that perhaps his mercy petition will be granted, then again, perhaps not. Given the many innards of the Indian judicial process, it remains to be seen of course whether Muhammad Afzal will be hanged at all and if so, when actually he will be hanged if at all.

Given that there is so much of death and destruction happening all around us all the time, it should not be surprising that someone who was convicted of bombing Parliament - the ultimate symbol of Indian democracy and its people - should be sentenced to death. And yet, it perhaps still touches a raw nerve whenever the state is involved in the taking of human life - be it as a passive bystander as when farmers commit suicide due to inept policies or when civilians die in custody or encounters or of course as in the current case, where the state formally after due process decides to sentence someone to death using the proviso that the death sentence is to be passed in the rarest of rare instances. Only in the last instance, is the state actually sanctioning and executing a death – in the case of encounter killings or custodial deaths, the government of the day and its instruments are active or passive accomplices, though arguably, the situation could be termed a lot worse if the state is seen as a passive spectator as deaths and killings happen unchecked and without any accountability under its gaze and watch.

Although the trauma of capital punishment is what it is and cannot be reduced, one of the areas where judicial reform should be directed is towards the speedy disposal of cases where the death sentence is awarded - both from the perspective of the accused as well as the state. If the state really wants an accused executed and feels that in a particular situation the circumstances warrant it, then it needs to do all in its power to ensure that the sentence passed is speedily executed and all appeals for clemency and retrial are expeditiously disposed off. It surely does not help the purposes of justice when the trials and appeals linger on for years and the public feels cheated of the verdict that was originally delivered.

From the point of view of the convict too, although it might at one level appear that justice is being delivered and lives saved by dragging the judicial process for years through numerous adjournments and appeals, in actual fact, the life the convict actually lives with the sword of Damocles hanging over him is actually no life worth reckoning. Cases have been known to drag on for years and by the time the petition is disposed one way or the other, the accused may have spent most of his or her active life in prison. Human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which routinely track custodial deaths and encounter killings have little to say about the prolonged period of time that one can spend in prison simply as an under trial with either no verdict being pronounced or the verdict being challenged in courts through innumerable appeals and adjournments.

As a Christian, I cannot imagine Jesus hanging any body or sentencing any one to death, though of course it could be argued that the final judgement that He will pronounce will be much harsher. But if it is difficult to imagine Jesus actually awarding the capital punishment, it is possible that Christians holding civil position and power may from time to time need to exercise to exercise that option though secular Europe has largely discarded it. But from a Christian point of view , this much can surely be said- that if the right to life and liberty is not meant for some because of the heinousness of their crimes, the least a humane state could do is to ensure a speedy and painless execution of the death sentence. May be Christians could lobby for a humane and painless execution of the death sentence. May be Christians couldlobby for that Surely, if the right to life and liberty is not meant for some because of the heinousness of their crimes, the least a humane state could do is to ensure a speedy and painless execution of the death sentence.