Capital Punishment is cruel

As human society, we have evolved many institutions for peaceful life together. There are few which are very cruel and still reminds us that we have not come out from the Medieval ages. One these is the capital punishment. 140 nations have abolished capital punishment. Only 58 countries have not abolished capital punishment, and India is one of these countries which still have capital punishment. Generally we do not give this punishment. Even if the Supreme Court had announced the capital punishment, the head of the Republic shows mercy and forgives the convict, reducing the punishment to life in imprisonment. This has not happened, for some reason. Many convicts are "hung" now. This is very very cruel. Just imagining it gives one shivers.We are a brutal society which still has this horrible punishment.
It is the cruelest way to die.We can see beyond what is ordinarily visible. Death as punishment for murder does not work as a deterrent. There are those who are on a suicide mission "to kill and then die" Giving death penalty will only act as a motivation for other similar individuals. Death sentence incentivizes criminals, as they become a "hero" or a martyr. Some humans want to conform and some want to rebel to "try-out" the limits of social sanctions.They can be motivated to live a peaceful and simple life. Some like to be immortalised by getting the award of death sentence. They too can be reformed; we can show them new reasons to live. The human mind is resilient.

It is not correct to end life of a human being. He can be useful even in jail. Convicts are taught skills like carpentry. Some convicts are used as labourers. They can be useful to society when they are taught skills.Their behaviour can be modified. They can be reformed. All human activities are learnt. Even if has learnt crime, he can change himself and can lead a crime-free life. We have to teach him how. Human mind can be changed. If given a life in imprisonment, he cannot harm anyone. In single confinement, he cannot influence anyone. We need not finish his life; the finality part of it hurts us deeply. Once given capital punishment, we cannot undo it. If later on new evidence comes to light, then we cannot do justice to the lost soul.

Do we have the right to take away life? At esoteric level, all religions teach us to live in peace. All religions teach coexistence, even with many differences among us. Giving death sentence is not a peaceful solution. It is the cruelest punishment ever thought of. We live in the land where Mahatma Buddha lived and preached. We cannot forget "ahimsa" and our thoughts cannot allow for death of a human under any situation. Gandhiji also taught us that "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" We cannot take away a life as punishment for murder. Then we are also committing murder jointly.It is not correct to put someone to death.Death sentence is just not acceptable. Doctors try so hard to save a life.Teachers work hard to shape a mind.All workers work in an effort to support human life.All of us work so that life is better for one and all, we farm, we produce we market, and we manufacture for benefit of all mankind. None of us work to end someone's life(may be a lawyer would).We all want to preserve life.We do not want death for anyone. Codification of such cruel punishment is a shame on our culture and society.We must end the death sentence.