Mercy petition system has become outdated: Nikam

We seek death penalty in exceptional cases so that it serves as a deterrent for other criminals. But our system has not been able to implement it for years,defeating the whole purpose, said Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

We seek death penalty in exceptional cases so that it serves as a deterrent for other criminals. But our system has not been able to implement it for years,defeating the whole purpose, said Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

He was speaking on How to check increasing crime in Society at Pankunwar Firodia Lecture series at S M Joshi auditorium. He said the present mercy petition process is of colonial times and needs to be revamped to make it prompt.

He said long delays in implementing death penalty lead to two kind of undesirable results. First the convicts of death penalty are not made to do any work in jail with their expenses becoming a burden on the exchequre. Secondly,the purpose to set an example to deter similar crimes is defeated.

He claimed that huge population of the country is one of the major reasons for increasing criminality as it leads to unemployment and dearth of opportunities. But no political party is serious about solving this issue of population growth. We need to enact some strong laws to check this menace. Political parties are worried about loosing votes but they should be more worried about national interests, he said.

Unemployment leads to frustration which forces youth to take to crime for money. Thats how organised gangs like that of Dawood Ibrahim,Chhota Shakeel and Chhota Rajan are attracting youths. Once youth falls in this trap of crime,it is very difficult to come out of it.

Arun Firodia of Kinetic Group along with Jayashri Firodida were also present on the occasion.

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Mercy petition system has become outdated: Nikam

We seek death penalty in exceptional cases so that it serves as a deterrent for other criminals. But our system has not been able to implement it for years,defeating the whole purpose, said Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

We seek death penalty in exceptional cases so that it serves as a deterrent for other criminals. But our system has not been able to implement it for years,defeating the whole purpose, said Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.