Accomplished thespian painter Anjolie Ela Menon recently stated that anyone on the streets can take to protests these days. Call it the arrogance granted by democracy or the alliance between the 'protestor' and the media's assiduous penchant for snooping around for 'scoops' ! How else could you describe the recent tirade of hate protests against talented actor Rahul Bose for his opinions about considering amnesty measures and reformation chances for undertrials, of course, after considering that evaluation of the genuineness of the plea for the same has been made. Since he had categorically stated that the chances of such cases should not be entirely ruled out, he does believe that there may be just a few such rare cases. It just speaks volumes of his moderate temperament. And moderation indicates a high degree of descernment and mental, moral and spiritual evolution. What's wrong with many of us ? We get so cynical that we just jump to conclusions and throw a spanner into the moving cogs of any wheel, regardless of what the matter is . Having an opinion is almost diametrically opposite to being opinionated ! Or is it a pseudo sense of power we derive when we 'stand' up against somebody whom we subconsciously perceive as being more powerful than us ( Sadly, we do feel , though subconsciously, that any celebrity is the epitome of omnipotence ) ?
Lest one starts believing that I am championing Rahul's tweets, let me state that my views are not in exact consonance with Rahul's. I have a take that takes somewhere from where he started turning vague about the measures that should be taken to evaluate the degree of genuineness in the plea for reform. When a criminal facing the gallows is asked whether he would like to reform, he is bound to answer in the affirmative. Either to escape punishment or due to the guilt complex that pervades his psyche, owing to which he exonerates himself by blaming his background, his childhood and his parents. Every damn thing except himself ! It is in extreme cases of crimes of this genre that warranties capital punishment and that are off-shoots of violently vicarious, perverted minds, that strong psychological intervention becomes mandatory. The criminal has to be 'psyched' into accepting the magnitude of his crime and his psyche should be rather 'purged' to transform his guilt complex to pure , unadulterated guilt , which is devoid of any excuses and is rather replete with true remorse. That will be when the beast or 'id' ( as Freud would have loved to term it !) is vanquished and the 'superego' or the spirit of ideal human behaviour takes the driver's seat !
But then , no man is an island. It cannot be ruled out that majority of the crimes, especially the violent ones against women and children are the results of a skewed and distorted socio-cultural milieu and ironically the value system inculcated in the perpetrators of the crime by the older women of their households. Isn't it true that most of the heinous crimes against women have been commited either by 'more powerful' women or misogynists who are born out of the interaction between tender minds and irrational women, who nurse attitudes and behaviour heavily skewed from the normal ? Can all such related people be subjected to this kind psychological purging ? Tough question and a seemingly impractical task. But then , aren't we talking about setting up precedents ? No perverted mind thinks about the horrifying consequence of death penalty when it commits a crime. But when brought to the level of human purity, the same mind would suffer from a genuine guilt which is probably worse than capital punishment !
Having said that, I would say that the judiciary has to function in a more objective way, for , it has to set tougher precedents as well as arduous deterrents against all crimes. So, if it is a death penalty, so shall it be ! Let the soul face it ! But if it is a reformed soul, he will accept it with a smile on his face, which will speak volumes of the relief at having received deliverance, salvation, a chance for atonement and maybe even 'moksha' !
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