Experts: Death no deterrent, need to empower youth

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 2

Sociologists, legal experts and former cops have given a thumbs down to the government’s decision to recommend death penalty for drug smugglers. They say the government should rather focus on factors leading youth to drug addiction and arrest the key players to tame the menace.

Sociologist Prof Ranvinder Singh Sandhu of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, whose study “Drug addiction in Punjab — A sociological study” had flagged the issue in 2009, said such extreme steps look good in the public sphere, but didn’t have much impact on the real issue. “There is a death penalty for rape also. Has it deterred the rapists? Moreover, it takes years for a case to be decided and often the influential finds a way out. The state needs to crack down on drug lords not petty smugglers,” he said. Sandhu said the successive governments had failed to address the problem despite knowing the reasons behind it. “Unemployment, low quality of education and lack of congenial atmosphere for personal and professional growth of the youth are yet to be tackled,” he said.

Another sociologist, Prof Rajesh Gill of Panjab University, Chandigarh, said laws had never helped in solving complex problems like drugs addiction and smuggling. “The death penalty would come into force only if charges are proved. It seems that powerful and politically connected persons are running drug rackets. I wonder if they would ever be arrested. We need to have a holistic and positive solution.”

Lawyer and rights activist Navkiran Singh too feels that the capital punishment won’t help. “The state has so far not shown a sincere effort to combat the problem. The government has not even called an all-party meeting or sought suggestions from the public to devise a viable solution. Around 142 nations have already abolished death penalty and no democratically mature nation believes in it.”

Former DGP Shashi Kant said the Congress government’s move was just a political ploy to push the ball in the court of the Union government. Now, the blame game will start. The present set of laws is adequate. The core issue is to arrest drug lords, which no government seems ready to do.”