A quantum of emotional misery

Birju Kishore Salla thought it was kinda funny to pin a terrorist threat in Googletranslated Urdu in the toilet of Jet Airways flight 9W 339 on October 30 2017 Salla is one of those rich brats who never grow up and are not interested in the family business in this case jewellery A year earlier he had allegedly smuggled a cockroach into a Jet Airways flight and then complained that hed found it in his business class mealBut Salla was sentenced to life imprisonment a few days ago under a tough antihijacking law passed in 2016 He was also fined 50 million rupees which a special court ruled would be paid out as compensation to the crew and passengers who had been put through the ordealEach pilot would get a lakh rupees cabin crew 50000 rupees each and each passenger 25000 rupees for the misery inflictedThe 2016 law expands the definition of hijacking to include threats If the threat is accompanied by an actual attempt to hijack a plane the law guarantees the death penaltyI have in my life threatened to kill people I once told a dear friend If you crack that silly joke again Ill kill you Though lighthearted this would stand up to scrutiny in a court as a clearly worded threat to end someones life albeit one that was not carried out A good lawyer could also have argued that I might have caused emotional misery to my friend by belittling his sense of humour and should be made to give him 25000 rupees The reason Im not behind bars might very well be that I didnt make the threat in a plane and I didnt make it in UrduFrom all of this two things are clear1 The Indian government takes terrorism seriously even the unexecuted threat of terrorism A person who merely makes threats in a plane is considered dangerous enough to be removed from society for the rest of his life2 The government is concerned about the emotional misery passengers are put through by a mere threat Everyone thinks their life is over everyone is sweating some may be peeing in their pants and some praying The government compensates them with money even if only 25000Lets talk about emotional misery compensation life imprisonment and the death penalty a little bit Six men kidnapped an eightyearold girl of the nomadic Bakarwal Muslim community in Kashmir as she herded horses The gang headed by priest Sanji Ram kept her prisoner in a temple and raped her repeatedly over a period of several daysbefore killing herHow much emotional misery would you say she had felt during that weekIf they had done all this in a plane and in Urdu the rapists might be facing death sentences now mdash but possibly because of the emotional misery they caused to the passengers who had to watchThe eightyearold girl is dead and her father is a Muslim so his misery probably doesnt count Only three of the accused including the priest were sentenced only to life imprisonment No one was sentenced to deathThe Indian government showed its seriousness about rape in August last year by prescribing death penalty to rapists mdash but only if the victim was under 12The calculation looks like this to me mdash A man who threatens passengers in a plane should be jailed for lifeA man who tries to hijack a plane should die even if his hijack attempt failsPassengers should be compensated for the distress caused to them by the very thought of a hijack attempt even a failed or fake oneVictims of rape feel less emotional distress than victims of hijack threatsA man who causes emotional misery to a 12yearold girl by raping her should dieGirls of 13 and over feel less emotional misery when raped than girls of 12For this reason the rapist of a girl over 13 need not be punished quite as muchIt also means that UP BJP member Kuldip Sengar might get off lightly for his alleged rape of a 17yearold girl in 2017Most men seem more concerned about the emotional misery caused to the rapist by the punishment In Jharkhands Rajakendua village in May last year a 16yearold girl was abducted by four men taken to a deserted spot and repeatedly rapedThe village panchayat thought that 100 situps and 50000 fine would be appropriate The rapists though were furious Full of emotional misery they went to the teenagers house beat up the family and burned the teenager to deathLesson never cause emotional misery to a rapist God knows what hell doHere viewed from there C Y Gopinath in Bangkok throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai the city that raised him You can reach him at cygopigmailcom Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates