Obituary.

In a surprisingly quick and low profile move, the Govt. of India carried out sentencing for Ajmal Kasab, who had been awarded the death penalty some four years back following the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.

I wasn't in India when it happened and all of my relatives were thankfully in and around Kolkata. So personally, I was not affected at all. This perhaps gives me no right to then comment on the historic attack which apparently killed 166 people and injured 300 others...changing uncountable lives in the process. But after reading some surprisingly insensitive hanging related puns tagged #kasab on twitter and facebook, I kind of felt sorry for .....a whole lot of people.

Starting with this poor kid's (he was 25 as of today) mother. Apparently, Kasab's family members were informed via a courier letter. I wonder how they must have felt. It is ,I believe, unimaginably hard to lose an offspring. I think the pain is even more unbearable when you lose an offspring and no one sympathizes with you.It also must be very painful to be the mother of the son whose death was celebrated by an entire nation. My heart goes out to her, regardless of her son's indiscretions.

Also, it would be an insult to not mention the 166 unfortunate souls from 2008. I don't know how many mothers lost their offsprings that day. I wonder if those people have healed at all, even though it has been four years.

I also wonder how Kasab himself felt when his mercy petition was rejected and a copy of his certified execution statement was handed to him. He was 25. Wikipedia says Kasab hailed from a middle class family in rural Lahore and his father sold street-food for a living. Apparently , he was offered an amount which roughly equals to a meager three thousand U.S dollars for participating in the terrorist attacks. Ironically, Kasab was informed that there is greatness and glory in killing (I'm assuming infidels) and then being killed. The money was to be transferred to his family after his death. I wonder how much truth there is in this statement. Not to sound like a bleeding heart, but maybe there was some humanity present in him, which made him take up such a project to earn money for his family. Who knows. I shouldn't be making idealized judgements like that. I spent five minutes researching on wikipedia about Kasab before writing this article. I am sure the Supreme court of India was a lot more well-informed about his intentions than I am ever likely to be.

According to the supreme court, death penalty was awarded to Kasab amid much deliberation and several controversies as "enormity of the crime in all scales left it with no other option". Even if I am, as a person, against the death penalty, I recognize the full impact of the fact that the court really had no other option. Even if Kasab had spent a full life of repentment, it would not have been enough to compensate for all the lives destroyed.Though, let it also be said, all anyone managed to do, was hang a pawn.He is of little consequence to either side of the battle. But for his ignorant deeds countless people, including his own family, will suffer.

An ideal way to substitute the death penalty would be perhaps,(in my opinion), extreme counselling, where the criminals really and earnestly repent and not just out of fear for their skin. But ideals don't exist in the real world. And who has the time to counsel people like a psychologist with all the faith of a vicar. It is a waste of effort. Not because I think that this method won't work. But because I know if anyone had such skills, they would be put to better use counselling trauma and depression patients...not parenting criminals.

Oh well. Just food for thought. The #kasab jokes really made me think. Incidentally the UN has started a new proposal on banning the death penalty in countries. I have mixed feelings.

Edit : "Allah kasam maaf karna. Aisi galati dobara nahi hogi...(Allah, please forgive me, this mistake won't happen again)." -- Ajmal Kasab, minutes before his execution.(TOI) R.I.P 166+1