August 19, 2017: Arindam Sil's new direction, titled 'Dhananjoy' hit the screens on 11th August. The Bengali film since its release has sparked a fresh debate on the social dilemma of capital punishment.
Capital punishment by no means is a simple debate topic. The United Nations Organization has passed various resolutions urging governments of various nations to abolish the legality of the death penalty, however, these resolutions have been non-binding.
Also Read: Why the society needs capital punishment
There are 56 nations that hold death penalty legal. In fact, 60% of the global population resides in countries where the death penalty is held valid. Some of these nations are India, US, China, Indonesia among more.
Arindam Sil's 'Dhananjoy' revolves around the capital punishment of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, a security guard. The film comes at the time of the 13th anniversary of his hanging.
Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed by the state on 14th August 2004 for the rape and murder of a young girl, Hetal Parekh, in a residential complex. Aged 39, Dhananjoy was mercilessly punished leaving behind old parents, a wife and a brother.
The Bengali film has run along the lines of the 2016 published book, 'Adalat-Media-Samaj Ebong Dhananjoyer Fansi'. The book portrays that Dhananjoy may have been wrongly committed the crimes he did not do. It was Hetal's mother who was the culprit and got away. Dhananjoy was a scapegoat.
Sil shows in the movie that it was unfair for Dhananjoy if the judiciary or police in any way would have caused an unintentional error. Dhanonjoy spent 14 years in the prison, during which he kept claiming that he was innocent. He also kept saying that he was tired of being poor. Dhananjoy had little money, and his poverty was the reason behind him being put as the scapegoat. His lawyers with the little fees had lost interest in the case.
This theory by Sil clearly raised debates regarding the fairness of capital punishment and death penalty. The film Dhananjoy is sure to raise dinner table debates with family after watching the movie.
William Douglas, American Supreme Court Judge, once said: "Capital Punishment was for those without the capital."
The United Nations conducted a survey in the year 1988. From the responses, they concluded that the fact "death penalty is more of a deterrent than life imprisonment" is absolutely baseless. Furthermore, the statistics extracted from countries who abolished the practice supports the conclusion of the survey.
If capital punishment is not abolished, the risk that an innocent could be hanged and killed lurks in the environment. Judiciary systems are not perfect systems.
In India, the judiciary is in worse conditions. With the lack of personnel, pending cases and archaic laws coupled with caste and communal hierarchic setup, capital punishment should be much researched in the country.
– Prepared by Saksham Narula of NewsGram. Twitter: @Saksham2394