Death on their minds
Seya’s rape and murder has upped the ante for
re-introducing capital punishment... but is it the right deterrent many
ask. :
 In the aftermath of an innocent five-year old girl’s gruesome rape
and killing in Kotadeniyawa, a massive public outcry is building up in
Sri Lanka, demanding a revival of capital punishment, against sex
offenders and murderers. Since September 13, public protests have become
the order of the day demanding justice for Seya, the little girl who
died a harrowing death at the hands of a psychopathic sex maniac.
The police questioned over 30 people and claimed last Wednesday that
they apprehended the main suspect, a 33-year-old man from Bemmulla but
not before taking into custody two men suspected as being the
perpetrators. The suspect, it was told, had confessed to the crime.
Soon after Seya’s murder the police came under heavy pressure to
immediately arrest the culprit or the culprits. An angry public demanded
that justice be meted and threw various accusations at the law enforcing
authorities, citing delays in tracing the offender despite so much of
raw evidence at hand, such as a cloth stained with the killer’s semen
and her body itself.
Accusations
The public anger also turned towards the victim’s parents, with
fingers being pointed at her father and grandfather for killing little
Seya, since she had been taken away from the house, on the night of
September 12.
The media did little to help douse raging conjectures and instead
gave wings to various speculation and hearsay, adding fuel to an already
burning issue.
After three decades of a protracted war in the country, which seemed
to have reduced compassion within our hearts, we witnessed an entire
nation standing in unison to protest against Seya’s horrendous murder
and before that, the gang rape and murder of Vidhiya, a 16-year-old girl
from Jaffna.
These incidents showed that a nation which was largely indifferent
towards violence and who more or less resembled dispassionate cardboard
dolls, beginning to regain the virtues once held in high esteem in
society. People, with their hearts being torn to pieces, and overpowered
by emotion renewed their demand to the authorities and President
Maithripala Sirisena to re-introduce the death penalty.
 The fervent calls forced the President to turn to Parliament seeking
answers. He is expected to appoint an Advisory Committee shortly to look
into the prospects of implementing capital punishment against rape,
murder and drug offences.
However, the UN has long frowned upon the death penalty saying it has
no place in the 21st century. Civil society activists too have warned
against reinstating capital punishment.The Civil Rights Movement (CRM)
in an urgent plea against the resumption of judicial hangings said ‘The
return of executions will diminish and degrade us all’. The CRM said ‘a
procedure set up in the UK in 1997 to investigate the alleged
miscarriage of justice, had by end July 2009, resulted in 280
convictions being quashed. In some cases the accused had already been
hanged’.
Abolished
More than 160 Members States of the United Nations with a variety of
legal systems, traditions, cultures and religious backgrounds, have
either abolished the death penalty or enforce it.
While some argue that this is a deterrent to crime, others oppose it
citing the comparatively high rate of murder in countries where the
death penalty is currently enforced.According to records the last
execution in Sri Lanka took place on June 23, 1976 at the Bogambara
prison in Kandy.
Since then death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. Under
the 1978 Constitution, the death sentence needs the unanimous decision
by the trial judge, the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice.
If there was no agreement, the sentence is to be commuted to life
imprisonment. The sentence also needs to be ratified by the President,
the clause relegated the law to the book. |
