CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ; The Assam Tribune; Letters to the Editor; 19th August, 2004

Sir,

It refers to the article "Do we need capital punishment?" by Kirity B Nandy (AT, August 12) where he has stressed upon the fact that rigorous life imprisonment should replace capital punsihment.

There are certain crimes for which life-imprisonment is best suited but that doesn't imply that capital punishment should be totally abolished.

Death sentence to Dhananjoy Chatterjee, the rapist and murderer of Hetal Pareek would be a great lesson for thousands of rapists existing in our society.

Abolition of capital punishment would give birth to hundreds of Dhananjoys and thousands of Hetal Pareeks would beome the helpless victims of their lust.

It is useless to shower sympathy on such criminals. Reforming a criminal is practically not possible in today's society. We are no longer living in the Vedic Age, when a murderer like Ratnakar tranformed himself into a saint.

Though a life-prisoner carries the tag of punishment throughout his life, life imprisonment however rigorous, can't be an effective detterent to the would-be criminals.
Death is something which can unnerve anyone and thus death-sentence is the appropriate punishment for the murderers and rapists. We are living in a society where crimes against women are increasing rapidly. Capital punishment would be the best lesson for those who harm the dignity of women. It would help to reduce the cases of rape, molestation, dowry death, etc. Thus capital punishment is justified for certain type of serious crimes. Moreover, if a murderer can take the life of a person, why can't the former be deprived of his life?

Yours etc.,

Monalisa Biswas,

Rehabari, Guwahati

Treasured Memories; The Sentinel; Saturday Fare;Page: TEEN SCENE

Student life is the best period of a person's life. One can hardly forget the sweet memories of one's student life, the great teachers, professors, the fun and frolic in the company of friends, etc.But student life is just a short phase of our life when we prepare ourselves for our future and as soon as the phase gets over, we find ourselves in the world of tough competitons where we struggle hard to craete a niche for ourselves in the society. Our daily hectic schedule, no doubt, makes us weary and depressed but whenever we ponder over the yester years, the bubbly days of student life flashes in our mind, there by bringing a smile on our faces.

It seems like it was just the other day when i got an admission in Cotton College. I was very excited and jubilant as I found my dream of studying in the premier educational institution in entire North-east, taking the shape of reality.

Life in Cotton College was really full of fun and I enjoyed every second of it. But time flew away so quickly that I couldn't even realize that my three years in college would come to an end so soon.

I remember each & every moment that I had spent in the Philosophy Department of Cotton College under the guidance of our wonderful professors who treated us just like their children. I can hardly forget our seniors who were so friendly and helpful. The moments spent in the company of my friends, the pranks we played on each other, the secrets that we shared, the time spent in the library, the college canteen, the coffee house and in the common room always singing and shouting, the gossips, the funny nicknames (viz., mango, haathi, champak, Mr. Confused,gabbar, etc.) given to some students by our gang will always remain in the storehouse of my memory to cheer me up whenever I feel lonely.

With a heavy heart,I've to say 'good-bye' to my college. I've to bid adieu to my teachers and I've to depart from my friends too. We've been together for three years and now life has brought us to a point where we have to leave each other and move forward towards our own destination in order to pursue our own dreams. We have to depart from each other, no doubt, but our lingering memories will always be there for uniting us in our thoughts.

If life is a journey, then I'm sure that someday we would meet again in the midst of our journey of Life. Until then, the treasured memories of our friendship will cheer us up.

By :

Monalisa Biswas

Philosophy Department

Cotton College

Guwahati-1