Here is a story that will make all the Hollywood producers run for their money. The story has only 4 characters to name: Dhananjoya Chaterjee, Hetal Parekh, Maheshweta Devi, and our honourable president Mr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam Azad.

The story begins with a heinous crime in the society: RAPE. The victim is a school-going child, Hetal Parekh. She is being raped and later killed by the hero of our story, Dhanonjaya Chaterjee (the way our media highlighted his issue, I can't dare to honour him any lower rank than a hero).

Anyway, continuing the story: Dhanonjaya was arrested. The court found him guilty and ordered death punishment. 13 years later, thanks to our Indian judicial system, he is still in jail. During this period, he has applied for a mercy plea three times and got rejected every time. Now he has applied a fourth time and this time, Mr. Kalam looks after this case.

There comes the role of our supporting cast. Maheshweta Devi and other lesser-known personalities step forward to cash in on the situation. They take rallies and sign petitions against the death punishment. They think that death punishment needs to be abolished. The climax comes with a tag line: "JUSTICE DELAYED DOES NOT MEANS JUSTICE DENIED". Mr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam Azad rejected his mercy plea, and Dhanonjaya's death execution took place on 14th august 2004. THE END.

This story leaves us with a debatable issue, does death punishment need to be abolished? Some strongly believe that these kinds of animals have no right to live in the society, while few others wonder if killing Dhanonjaya will bring Hetal's life back!

I personally believe that, by rejecting the mercy plea, Mr. president gave us a straight message: guiltier need to be punished badly. Those who argue that the death of Dhanonjaya can't bring back Hetal's life are very true. At the same time, however, those who argue the latter should put themselves in the shoes of Hetal's parents, brothers, and friends. If somebody still stands by his/her belief, I will say he/she has a very big heart to forgive and forget. When I put myself in their shoes, though, I wonder if I would able to forgive that rapist and murderer. I don't have such a big heart.

I have full sympathy towards Dhanonjaya's family, but, at the same time, I don't want to see someone like him moving around freely in our society. Who will give guarantee for him? What if, after the jail time he repeats the same crime with someone else? I ask you: Will you still stand by your words? Think again - that someone could be anybody related to you!

Gandhiji was very true when he quoted, "violence can't be the answer to violence". Still, if someone advocates the abolishment of death punishment by quoting those sayings, I have a question for them: What punishment would they think is appropriate for Osama Bin Laden, the man behind the 9/11 attack, if caught alive? What punishment would they like to execute upon the terrorists, who, in the name of religion, kill innocent people? Do you think we should put them behind bars for 7 years or 14 years or for a lifetime - so that a fair chance is available to them to get free before the punishment tenure is over and then hijack yet another IA-814 or kill a few more hostages?

I would like to conclude this debate with a simple line: Tougher punishment is a must for proper justice! We might not be able to put a full stop to such crimes by the fear-of-death punishment, but at least we can minimize it.