Featured news story on – Crime and Justice by Vanita Sriniwas

Crime should be judged by the intention and not by the age or status of the criminal. The five basic principles of justice are Fairness, Equality, Transparency, Unbiased and the Right to be heard.

An old man cannot be punished any harder for a crime committed to satiate his hunger than a juvenile. On the contrary a juvenile committing an adult crime by, no means, deserves any sympathy. In fact a crime far ahead of his age should be dealt with an iron hand. Cruelty exhibited in juveniles should be absolutely unacceptable in society. Children are bestowed with a divine innocence by God, the Almighty. To put down and suppress innocence for a bargain of nascent uprising of cruelty is unpardonable and a sin towards humanity, society and its values.

Crime in any form should be a serious concern for Family, Society, Nation and the Government.. Reasons for crime are umpteen like poverty, vengeance, greed, pride and so on. It may be a, well drawn sinisterly plan or committed at the spur of the moment. The span of the crime varies from breaking a traffic rule to grievous perpetration like murder, assault and rape. Whatever the reason, the cause ultimately boils down to the attitudinal maturity in the criminal. Every criminal belongs to a family, the family in turn tto the society and the society to the nation. Somewhere the crime reflects the flaw or a lapses on the part of family and society.

The sole purpose of Punishment is just not to deter the criminal or offender but in a broader perspective it is to render justice to the rest of the society by making the offender realize his mistake. It is to communicate and signaling to him that such deeds are unacceptable to us. The more grievous the crime is , tougher should be the punishment.. An unfair judgment is justice denied to society. It encourages the crime further and sends wrong message to the masses.