Conviction & Sentencing of Dara Singh

Conviction & Sentencing of Dara Singh

The prime accused in the Staines murder case, Dara Singh, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court, confirming the original sentence imposed by the High Court.

Being a high profile case, there has been a huge hullabaloo about not imposing a death penalty on him.

I'm fully conscious of the current trend of media trials. I ought not to be surprised by the media reactions.

However, being as naive as I am, I'm baffled by the furore that the life sentence has not been converted into a death penalty by the Supreme Court.

I do not for a moment wish to go into the merits of the case. Neither you nor I have enough information about the facts of the case to pass judgement on merits.

At the same time,

• when the trial has gone through to its logical conclusion through multiple levels of appeal,
• when eminent lawyers on both sides have argued the case at length,
• when all kinds of investigation has been completed with adequate inputs from various witnesses,

I fail to comprehend the basis on which the media is finding fault with the judgement.

After all, we must understand that the Death Penalty, as per our law, is meant to be imposed only in the "Rarest of Rare" cases. Needless to say, the terminology "Rarest of Rare", by its very nature, is subjective. Of course, it is but obvious, that different judges in different courts at different points of time will come to different interpretations of what constitutes "Rarest of Rare".

If only we care to count the number of death penalties executed since Independence, we'll know for sure about the true import of the term "Rarest of Rare".

The parties directly involved in the instant case:

• the prosecution & the investigative agencies
• the representatives of the victims and, of course
• the represntatives of the accused / convicted

are the only ones who have any business to appeal in accordance to the provisions of the law, if at all.

The media has no role to play in commenting about whether the punishment is adequate or otherwise. The holy cow of "Media Freedom" should not be misused in this manner.

Such commentry, especially by rabble-rousing politically-influenced media persons in live TV debates can certainly lead to spark off communal violence.

As though we don't have enough problems of our own!

The time has come for some public-spirited citizens and advocates to file a Public Interest Litigation against one or more of the media houses for "Contempt of Court".

Think about it!

Regards,

N

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