Crime & Punishment in Free India

Not the brutality of treatment or the rigour of labour or the horror of death that would be reformatory, but the softening of the subtle sense sharpening the intellect, shaping the sentiments and sensing the virtuous way through repentance and retribution should form and formulate the Indian sense of justice and period of punishments under the Criminal Law. A forced penance, the rigour of which need be increased with the seriousness of the crime, would not only mortify the body, but allow the soul of the criminal to manifest itself and develop so as to evolve.  These thoughts come to me as I think of justice and punishment in Free India. Tooth for tooth and nail for nail may be maxims of private vengeance; but the State should be compassionate and serviceable to the derelict.  The inhuman quality in a person only betrays the utter want of opportunities for the person to seek after light and to imbibe true knowledge; and the deliberateness in being brutal on the part of an individual, whose general qualifications are by no means mean, indicates lapses or accidents of mastery of the lowest over his higher qualities. Surely these ailments require to be treated spiritually, and not by condemning the ‘derelict’ to such conditions as to worsen his chances of improving with time or by depriving the ‘guilty’ of the very life in that body, which needs to be preserved if progress in the evolution of the soul is to be maintained.  Jails, which—as are recognised, should also be Institutions for reforming the criminals—are now governed and administered by those hardened in crime. The living conditions and the routine of jails only make the criminal lose the little fineness or sense of the fair that may be left in him. The hard labour or harsh treatment without enlightenment do not result in enlivenment of the true nature of their souls. Those, condemned to death do not return from the jails, but are deprived of the only opportunity, viz., of life, to reprieve the shrouds on the souls so as to thin the coverings in a new birth. The attitude of those in charge of criminals in jails only embitters the outlook of the ‘criminal’ on life and savours his future conduct with pugnacity. These are results following from the fact that ‘crimes were committed to punish crimes, and crimes were committed to prevent crimes’. The same writer John A. Buller, in the Law Student, London, points out “It is safe to say that Governments have committed far more crimes than they have prevented”. The award of Capital Punishment creates the ‘Hangman’ whose calling should not in a civilized State be by any recognised appointment or posting. The ‘hangman’ neither saves himself, nor improves the conditions of the State by ridding the body of an evolving soul by a cruel cut.  I am not actuated only by the urge for humane treatment for criminals. I am impelled to point out that the violence involved in present day Code for punishing criminals is producing no real good to humanity at large ; nor is such cruelty absolutely necessary for Government to run their administration. The reasons for or against Capital Punishment as given by modern jurists are not necessary to be considered, for the experience of each is subjective and the remedies suggested are relatively good or bad. These remedies are also the outcome of their outlook on protection of person or property. If good to humanity and to individuals can be achieved by avoidance of violence on the part of the Government, should violence still be allowed to continue to guide our ideology ? If it could be avoided and the Society be the better of it, could that not be the objective ?  Apart from the brutality of making a man merely suffer without the chance of improvement and of the inhuman character of a Capital Sentence the chances or opportunities of making criminals realise the supreme sense for repenting and reforming themselves under good guidance makes a powerful appeal to me. The prisons and jails can be frequented or be under control of religious heads; and every attempt to turn the baser qualities of the criminals to finer feelings for the Spiritual aspects of their lives will have its own reward.  When violence in every form is on its trial, is not a judgment in respect of it with reference to justice and punishment necessary to be pronounced, and the gloom it has spread should be dispelled, so as to make light shine on and guide criminals.

Author Name: Sri D. Munikanniah