Thursday, January 27, 2011

Fear of small numbers

Life term adequate for Staines murder convicts: SC

"Though Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death while they were sleeping inside a station wagon at Manoharpur, the intention was to teach a lesson to Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity," it said. While condemning killings in the name of religion, the bench also expressed its disapproval of conversion. "It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone`s belief by way of `use of force`, provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other," said the bench.

After thought:
The Bench ordered deletion of this paragraph and replaced it with -- "However, more than 12 years has elapsed since the act was committed, we are of the opinion that the life sentence awarded by the high court need not be enhanced in view of the factual position discussed in earlier paragraphs."

The paragraph ordered to be deleted from the judgment read -- "It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone's belief by way of `use of force', provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other."

It will now be replaced by -- "There is no justification for interfering in someone's religious belief by any means."

Source: Times of India of 21.1.11 and 26.1.11