Amritsar (June 17, 2010): In a statement sent to SikhSiyasat Network the Dal Khalsa expressed its resentment against Punjab government for not recommending to the Centre to abolish capital punishment from the law book when the Home Ministry asked for suggestion from states that ‘whether a humane mode of execution of death sentence such as lethal injection should be adopted in place of existing system of hanging’.
Amritsar (June 17, 2010): In a statement sent to SikhSiyasat Network the Dal Khalsa expressed its resentment against Punjab government for not recommending to the Centre to abolish capital punishment from the law book when the Home Ministry asked for suggestion from states that ‘whether a humane mode of execution of death sentence such as lethal injection should be adopted in place of existing system of hanging’.
The organization in its one page letter faxed to Punjab chief minister stated “while we appreciate the stand taken by the government of Tamil Nadu in saying that capital punishment should be completely done away, we condemn and regret that Punjab missed the oppurtunity to take a principled stand. This, according to Dal Khalsa letter was because state’s chief minister lacks political will-power to express independent thought and belief.
In a statement party’s secretary for political affairs Kanwar Pal Singh said the people of the Punjab expected from its government that like Tamil Nadu it should have also asked for a complete ban on capital punishment rather than “flowing with the tide” favouring replacement of hanging by legal injection.
In principle, we reiterate our opposition to death penalty and favour commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment to one and all on humanitarian grounds, he pointed out.
Describing the chief minister as ineffective and indecisive, he said Badal Sahib takes credit for providing governance on the pattern of Maharaja Ranjit Singh rule, however in the 40-year rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, not a single person was sentenced to death, including the person who had made an attempt to kill the ruler.
Meanwhile, urging the Parliament to do away with the capital punishment from the Indian law book, he said according to Amnesty International report “no executions for five straight years shows that Indian state has embarked on the path of a capital punishment moratorium, but more than 50 death sentences passed by Indian courts in recent times, signal the need for a focused debate on the issue”.
He said the country’s establishment was stuck between joining the abolition trend and clinging to the misapprehension that the death penalty was an effective measure against crime.
As many as 111 countries have completely abolished capital punishment in law or practice and it’s time for Punjab government to send afresh recommendation urging the Centre to join the ranks of these countries’, concluded the letter.