R.D. Bhardwaj “Noorpuri”
It was really surprising and disappointing to note that some politicians from Tamil Nadu have requested the President to exonerate three convicts who had plotted and killed former Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. Following this line, some politicians from Jammu & Kashmir have also made a similar request to the President to excuse Afzal Guru, responsible for attacking the Parliament in December, 2001.
It may be recalled that in both the cases, trials have been done and the Courts have held them guilty and only after that, they awarded death penalty to them. If, even after having long court proceedings and trials having been conducted (and subsequent indictments), some politicians interfere in court matters and make such requests to the President to excuse the guilty, then what is the relevance of having Courts ?
Secondly, what message these politicians are giving to the society when they are trying to shield criminals who have committed grave anti-national crimes ? And if the President ultimately agrees to their requests and pardons them, what lesson thousands of such other perverted minds shall get and how we are going to check crimes from the society ? I fail to understand why such questions do not bother our political class ? Hence, I feel that it will be better if politicians stop playing the games of cheap vote bank politics and think in the larger interest of the country. Playing a devil’s advocate harms the society and the country in a much bigger manner, and that is why, India is suffering most amongst all the Asian countries; and hence, the same should be better avoided.
Furthermore, I would also like to opine that the clemency pleas made to the President should be preferably disposed off maximum within three months, as stretching the same for years together, only adds to complicating the matter unnecessarily. Think of the nation first and every thing else afterwards. To cleanse the society, the guilty of every type or genre deserves to get his or her due share of punishment, and let the courts have the final word over such matters.
