Custodial Death Of A Rapist - Should We Be Happy??

November 11, 2010
Ideally, I should not have been happy to read this news.  It's about death.  about death of a human being.  About death of a man in police custody.  Does death in judicial custody not bring out anger in us?  It does.  But not this time.  I am sorry.  I am surprised with myself.  But, I am happy to know, this guy Mohana Krishnan who was a cabbie in Coimbatore was killed in a police encounter two days back. 

Was it a conspiracy? Or the alleged "act of self-defence" by the police officers? or the Robin Hood act?  I don't know.  But as a citizen of this country, where there is a general feeling of hopelessness in the law and order situation, I am happy.  As a mother, I am happy.  As a woman I am happy.  But believe me, as I type this, there is no smile on my face, because as a human being, somewhere I am pained by this man's death, because ultimately he was a human being, who had even requested his doctor for a lethal injection during the medical examination just 2-3 days before his death in this shoot out, when he allegedly snatched the revolver of one the police inspectors and shot him.

I share my happiness of this fast track justice with those many cab drivers and auto rickshaw drivers and the people of Coimbatore who celebrated his death by distributing sweets.  Of course, they had a reason to be happy.  After all, this man had brought a bad name to their profession.

Mohana Krishnan, a 23 year old cab driver, who worked as a school van driver for a few days, picked up two children, a 10 year old girl and her younger brother before their usual school van arrived.  He had originally planned to abduct the kids for ransom, but later developed cold feet.  He tortured the children, raped the little girl and later threw the helpless innocent children in a canal near Tirumurthy dam, 77 kms from Coimbatore.  He was helped by another tractor driver.  This is such a ghastly act.  How can we be so intoxicated with greed, with lust that we are unable to understand how helpless a child is?  Were we not children once.... does that memory also does not scare these animals when they decide to do such ghastly acts against little angles??

This man, died in police custody, while he was being taken to another place (the reasons behind his movement at the early hour is unclear).  Police says that this guy snatched a revolver and was almost on a shooting spree, when they had to kill him in self defence.  As expected, there is an enquiry into this matter.  (Thankfully, a small news in one corner of the newspaper, and not the front page, mentioned about it today, or else I would called it displaced sense of priority or sensitivity).  Now, the Human Rights people may also raise their voice on custodial death.  May be they have a point, yes they have a point, as whether a person is guilty or not is decided by judiciary and not the law enforcing agency ie Police. 

But, do you know, a similar case happened in Delhi just one odd month back.  A school van driver, again a young man, used to sexually exploit three siblings - one girl and two boys, all between 6 to 12 years age (as far as I remember), the girl being the eldest.  This man, on the pretext of picking these kids up for school would take them to some houses, where he had access and would rape the girl and sodomise the boys. The kids were drugged every time.  They got used to the material abuse.

All this continued for almost two years.  I am aghast to think about it.  The kids were too scared as the man allegedly had made MMS of the three kids in objectionable condition and had threatened to kill them as well.  The pitiable part is that their widowed mother was a working woman, living alone with kids in Delhi, and she could never realise, that the children are not reaching school for many a days.  The kids, specially the girl started withdrawing herself and showed change in behaviour, of course the drug had physiological effect on all three of the kids.

It shocked me and pained me, as everyday, the update on this kept coming.  Just another day, I read that, this man guilty of drugging and sexually exploiting poor and helpless kids had been arrested.

Now, does it make us content?  Does taking somebody to custody is punishment enough?  Will he be tried? or will he manage to unshackle himself, courtesy some who's who of the power capital Delhi?  Will the children, who had to be put in a rehabilitation centre to get out of habit of drugs, would ever live a normal, healthy life?  This scar in their innocent minds will pain them all their lives. 

And if the the situation goes bad, in all likelihood, we are witnessing  the making of another rapist, another abductor, another thief, another molestor.  Will he be or for that matter, they be feeling guilty of what they are doing..... when they grow up? NO.  because they would be giving back the society what they got.  They had their childhood trampled under a pair of filthy boots, they are going to give the filth back on the face of their world, their families, their relationships and anybody who comes in touch with them.

However, education can help, counselling can help, but a bad memory of childhood moulds us, moulds our psyche and our being.

There is a need for us, parents, us guardians, and teachers and people to preserve the childhood of not just our children but children, in general.  The channel of communication with our kids should always be open to know what they are experiencing.  Parents need to be more sensitive and perceptive with small children, as they don't even know how to express things.  We have a huge role to play in this increasingly unsafe world.  Also, please try to think beyond my kid, my home, my family mentality.  We get affected because overall, situations go bad,  and we keep our eyes shut saying, this has not happened to me.  It's time we stop being selfish.

Meanwhile, the accidental shoot out or encounter, whatever you call it, this quick justice is making me feel good...... mmmm bad..... well a mixed feeling.

How do you feel about it? let me know.


RESTLESS

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25 comments:

Prateek Bagri said...

I too read about this. Sad that such cases are picking heights day after another. Not strict and late decisions by the court are to be blamed.

DISGRUNTLED GENIUS said...

Double edged sword ! In today's turbulent times, i believe , the term 'humanity' should be used logically. The dictionary meaning of being something that constitutes the living souls on earth.. isnt relevant anymore. Certain persons like such rapists, Naxaliites or terrorists cease to be human. And these people should be 'dealt with' in sch ways as law of our country isnot quite sensitive towards the victims.

The argument that these ppl are , in the end, the products of our society holds true. But cant be used as a justification for their crimes.. esp against children. More so in a country like ours where society frowns upon rape victims.

Joshi Mukard said...

People like this, if proven guilty, must be killed on the spot.

A Restless Mind With A Sensitive Heart! said...

Prateek - yes true, we need some examples, which scares such animals.

Mayank - rightly said, our society frowns upon rape victims. that's the irony.

Joshi Mukard - I can understand the anger. The meaning of humanity is indeed changing.

Thanks for your views guys!

RESTLESS

D2 said...

No mixed feelings for me. I'm glad the man died. Sure there'd be a human rights violation in there somewhere. But the atrocities he committed were such as well. Much worse, in fact.

Swetha S said...

The incident happened in my city, coimbatore. The victims' family was a friend of my friend's and she had been to the funeral of the two kids. The children's mom is in a pathetic state. They say she has turned mentally unstable. There wasn't a single person who hadn't cursed the murderer. I don't know whether the encounter was a planned one. All i can is that he deserved it.

Vee said...

Similar incident happened in AP with that acid throwing case about an year ago! And that incident made me think in the exact same way you wrote today. Mixed feelings! Now, can the rise in these kind of cases be attributed to slow decisions our judicial system makes? Is this leading to lack of fear when they do such atrocities? May be, the involvement of law enforcement systems and their prompt actions every once in a while will instill fear next time some one even thinks of doing such an atrocity. I'm not sure what exact punishment the court would impose on this guy. If it's capital punishment, it just got imposed a little quickly in this incident and this would send out a message to those people who intend to do any such thing later. So, may be I don't have mixed feelings.

But on the other hand, I still don't understand why Kasab is enjoying all the luxury even today!

Purba said...

I remember reading this report and feeling oddly happy. Did that man deserve a fair trail, should he have rotted in jail instead?

I personally felt the man deserved what he got.

Anonymous said...

Well. I must say at the very outset this article goes a long way in gathering opinions against such crimes. So we all should strive to bring out instances of such atrocities so that it serves as a deterrant to would be criminals. When society unites for a cause, fringe elements become wary and desist themselves. Having said that i am not am advocate for death sentence for any type of crime. Be it rape, peadophilia, or murder. Its a punishment of the midevial times and no state has the right to take the life of a person. Encounter killings remained as a roundabout way of delivering justice but we can't institutionalise them and if we do then we do it at our own peril. Also i disagree with mayank again in that he can't bracket rapists with naxals or terrorists. The agenda of all three are different as also their objectives. Some are political as also social but the former is insanity.

Nethra said...

He ain't a human. No human shall rape kids. He deserved to die.

DISGRUNTLED GENIUS said...

@Neo

I think even if i write only "agreed" as a comment, you will say "disagree with mayank again" :P .

All you said is fine from an intellectual point of view and sounds good when Arundhati roy utters this in high class 'intellectual' get-togethers. But wen put in context, every1 who has a stated agenda of breaking up this country (read: naxals), should be dealt with force.

As for bracketing, it was. I advocated same punishment for the "non-humans". Their motives differ but the baseline remains same - hopeless, strayed youth in love with darker side of life.

Anonymous said...

Vee, to me, kasab should enjoy the so called luxury because he is living proof of pakistan's involvement. If we need to kill him we would kill the evidence too. Moreover, he is a fidayeen and came here prepared to die. So if we kill him we would only be hastening his cause. Rather what if we reform him through the dhamma meditations practiced in tihar, we would surely be a nation that produced buddha and gandhi. That would be a statesmanly act and would serve as a model for obama's who still refuse to close down guantanamo bay prison.

DISGRUNTLED GENIUS said...

@Neo

Reform Kasab ?? Granted, he can be reformed but the lives of people whom he shot .. 'live on camera' .. are useless? And thats what we should do? Rather then finishin these jerks once and for all, we should welcome them and reform them after they kill hundreds.

A Restless Mind With A Sensitive Heart! said...

D2, Nethra, Purba - u're clear about ur feelings on his death, right.

Swetha - Oh, it's so painful. May God give the parents the strength to bear this tragedy.

Vee- ok, a similar incident. Yes, I feel it's becoz of the slow justice system or no fear at all, that is encouragin ppl to do it.

Kasab, well, this a lot of us think about and wonder!

A Restless Mind With A Sensitive Heart! said...

Neo - u gave very valid points supporting the cause, thanks.

But, as far as Capital punishment is concerned, I guess, when there is no fear left in the who's who or the relatives of who's who, then only the fear of death can act as a deterrent. As we see around, there is so much distrust in the judicial system in the common man, which is not unjustified. Now, if this fear is also taken away, imagine where will be society go?

As it is, as I understand very few ppl get executed, as this form of punishment is for the rarest of the rare crime. I checked on Wiki, it says :

"At least 100 people in 2007, 40 in 2006, 77 in 2005, 23 in 2002, and 33 in 2001 were sentenced (but not executed) to death, according to Amnesty International figures. No official statistics of those sentenced to death have been released."

As it is, it's said that Justice delayed is justice denied, and an diluted penalty is like adding insult to the injury. So, State must have this right, but it should be used only as an example and as sparingly as possible.

If u say medieval justice, I would ask, what about stoning to death, then?

RESTLESS

A Restless Mind With A Sensitive Heart! said...

Neo, having said that, ur disagreement as to placing the three categories of crimes in one bracket is understandable. But this distinction can only be done by someone who can deeply understand the other person's or party's perspective. On a common man's level, they are all criminals. However, u put it nicely as " The agenda of all three are different as also their objectives. Some are political as also social but the former is insanity." Well said!

@ Mayank - Hope it clarifies my stand on your comment that although, all such ppl seem to be in one bracket for us, the society, but (if we try to understand the cause) we realise the difference. It is this sensitivity that can help mould a human being, we must not close that door to a person, to a human being.

RESTLESS

A Restless Mind With A Sensitive Heart! said...

Neo, Mayank - Now this is tricky! abt Kasab, i mean!

But, Neo, at what cost, esp financial, are we keeping him? forget about ppl's sentiments. don't u think, this is uncalled for?

However, I feel death would be easier for him than life, right now.

RESTLESS

A Restless Mind With A Sensitive Heart! said...

Dear blogger pals, if this post stricks a chord somewhere, pls support it on Indivine (link given at the end of the post), as, only then it will get visibility on the forum. Thanks.

prasanna raghavan said...

The sad point is that it is just another news. When its juice is gone in few weeks or months time the family will be alone staring helplessly at the misfortune that haunted them perhaps blaming themselves that we should have done that or this.

But why all these? can we do something to alleviate this kind of behavioral issues. All these, in my understanding is because of our public education system. There are no value learning. I have read about parents who are unhappy about value education in schools.

And I have heard people disputing against social responsibilities. Why should I bother about the mis fortunate creatures in an around my surroundings? How many people think otherwise.

This news should make us think. If one person after reading this think, it is time to have a shake up of our society, that is a good thing out of this. it it not only for the material monuments that we are remembered but for how we build and take care of our society collectively.

It is a great post. you have raised the appropriate questions.
keep it up. I have started a series on education. If interested you can read

pramod said...

this man mohana krishnan, is lucky that he is dead,.i would be more happy to see him tortured bit by bit.
the police have done mercy on him .

Jack said...

Restless,

We as society have failed. What about that poor girl of BPO who was raped and murdered by cabbie or Muttoo girl or Ruchika? There are many more such cases. We need to come out of slumber and join hands for ensuring that no such cases happen again.

Take care

A Restless Mind With A Sensitive Heart! said...

Prasanna Raghavan -

welcome to this blog!

Problems with value education in schools? never heard that... can u pls tell more?

Well said, society is our responsibility, each one of us is responsible. Surely will read ur posts. Glad u liked the post!

Pramod -

I can understand ur anger.

Jack - Jack, the present outcome of ruchika case is so unfortunate. I hated to see that smile on his face.

you are right, there is so much, and we need to be aware about it and support in our little way.

RESTLESS

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Anonymous said...

"But, Neo, at what cost, esp financial, are we keeping him? forget about ppl's sentiments. don't u think, this is uncalled for? "

....well. if this is the question that you were referring to, then i must say, it is not much of a cost when compared to the various shams we had over a period of time to make our city look 'world-class'. Also, it is none compared to the lavishness we show in our own lives, to spruce up our offices, our gardens, the amount of water and power we waste... the political class..they too waste a lot of money... so this goes on. The media highlights the money spend on kasab as if it is a cardinal sin. i dont think the media projection is correct in this regard.

Anonymous said...

and as per the islamic hadith, a man once been decided to be a fidayeen or set apart his life for jihad, or the holy war, the best thing that can happen to him is death. being the martyr. he is supposed to reach jannat and he is supposed to be greeted and escorted to this life by none other than 'hoor's or angels.. (did i use the right word'? in earthly life, whatever he is condemned to do (Haram).. he is supposed to get that in Paradise..things which he has forgone include women, drink, luxury, etc.

so Kasab for one is perhaps someone who sacrified all for his jihad and wanted to die. to give me death would only be a service to him, whereas everyday that he lives, will be an unbearable thought for him.

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