The Hindu : National : Buddhadeb favours death for Dhananjoy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 26, 2004

National

National

Buddhadeb favours death for Dhananjoy

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, JUNE 25. A day after the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, stayed the June 25 hanging of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Government said today that it favour the execution of the death sentence as a signal to the perpetrators of rape and murder in the country.

"In this case, I am in favour of death by hanging. Yes, a message should go to the perpetrators of such heinous crimes,'' Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

Dhannajoy Chatterjee had raped and brutally murdered 14-year-old Hetal Parekh at her Kolkata residence in 1990.

The court had sent him to the gallows but the President, a day before Dhananjoy's scheduled hanging, stayed it asking the Union Home Ministry to review the death sentence.

Only yesterday, the former Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, and the CPI(M) State secretary, Anil Biswas, both Polit Bureau members, went public with their opinions on capital punishment.

Mr. Basu said he would prefer life imprisonment to the death sentence. But he was not sure what kind of punishment should be meted out to those committing heinous crimes — death sentence or life imprisonment.

"All I know is, an example must be set."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National