M A I L B A G

Need to hang rapists after speedy trial

I don’t know why there is so much fuss and hype regarding the execution of Dhananjay Chatterjee who committed the most heinous crime of raping an innocent girl to satisfy his lust and then killing her. The media was trying to make a hero out of him. His so-called gesture of donating his eyes and kidneys and allowing his body for experimentation by medical college students will in no way mitigate the sin that he had committed.

His execution should serve as an eye-opener for all other criminals. The honour and lives of many innocent girls will also be saved in the future from the clutches of those donning the role of Dhananjay.

However, there is a serious defect in our legal system. Dhananjay should have been executed after expeditious hearing in the courts. Why did the judiciary take 14 long years to hang him? There is a need to hang rapists after expeditious trial.

JASBIR SINGH BINDRA, Advocate, Ludhiana

II

Screening of photographs of Dhananjay by the electronic media should have been banned. The punishment given to him was enough to educate the people about the crime. The recitation of "Hum Honge Kamyab..." by human rights activists with burning candles in their hands at 3 a.m. near Kolkota's Alipore Jail where Dhananjay was hanged was in bad taste. What message the participating girls wanted to convey to the nation?

G.S. BHAMRA, Solan

III

The hanging of Dhananjay Chatterjee has once again brought to the fore the age-old controversy surrounding death penalty (Aug 15). No doubt, there is the imperative need to control escalating crime through deterrent punishment. Yet we cannot also jettison the collective wisdom and compassion worthy of humankind in the face of stray instances of wickedness and violence.

How about immutable life imprisonment till the very last breath as an alternative to gallows? Who eventually would better serve the cause of the community at large? — a reformed, repentant person mellowed with age and contemplation, or a dead criminal unable forever to seek pardon and make amends?

Wg-Cdr S.C. KAPOOR (retd), Noida

IV

I strongly support the execution of Dhananjay convicted of raping and killing of Hetal Parekh in 1990. Hetal Parekh was only 14 when he raped and killed her. I am in favour of the death penalty — at least for the rapists.

DEEPAK KUMAR VIDHYARTHI, Muzaffarnagar (UP)

V

The execution of Dhananjay was just and fair. He got the punishment after 14 years of committing the crime. Why not evolve a much quicker dispensation of justice? Think of the soldier for quick firing on the enemy during the war or while guarding the border. Dhananjay's ghastly act was a war on the girl child and her parents.

Wg-Cdr T.L. BHARDWAJ (retd), Chandigarh

VI

It was quite depressing to see so much joy about the hanging of Dhananjay in Kolkata, the City of Joy's schools, amongst some people and, above all, the hangman, for having scored a quarter century of kills. Now that Dhananjay is no more, let there be some solemnity in the death of a human being who, no doubt, had committed a heinous crime.

Is it not an irony that Dhananjay had undergone two punishments for the same crime — more than a life imprisonment dying each day while clinging to life dear as well as a death sentence?

RAGHUBIR SINGH, Pune

VII

The fear of death sentence is essential to keep a check on such horrible crimes. However, it is regrettable that various TV news channels went on glorifying Dhananjay, a dreaded criminal, as if some martyr was going to be hanged.

However, it is time that the jail manuals were amended to replace hanging by newer and least painful techniques to execute the death sentence. It is even more necessary in view of the repeated threats of hangman Natta Mullick to refuse Dhananjay's execution if his grandson was not provided a government job.

SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL, New Delhi

Overdue banking reform Bank guarantee has of late become popular with every creditor insisting on the same for raising funds. In this context, two points need to be considered by the financial market. First, despite their emphasis on liberal credit policies, banks follow the pick and choose policy while issuing guarantees to customers. It is only after receiving the deposit that the guarantee should be issued to the customers on merit and without bias. Secondly, banks insist on delivering the guarantee directly to the beneficiary and not to the applicant. But the applicant is a known customer and the beneficiary may not be familiar to the bank. Moreover, there could be many terms and conditions between both the parties. Some bank officials' fear that the applicant may alter the amount of guarantee instrument is misplaced. Can't the beneficiary do the same? The banks should issue the guarantee directly to the applicant who has deposited the sum for the third party. A duplicate copy could be sent to the beneficiary. This is an overdue reform. The RBI, the banks and the business community should take note of this and help streamline the system. S.S. ARORA, Chandigarh