Stray thoughts on the hanging of Kasab.

It is said that punishment of a criminal, particularly if the punishment is death penalty, is not as much to deter the criminal as to deter potential criminals. The hanging of Kasab would not bring back the lives he killed. It would only avenge the loved ones of the victims. It could be argued that vengeance is not a noble trait and assuaging it would only create a society of vengeance. If the aim of punishment is to deter potential criminals, then punishment for crimes should be so gory that a would-be criminal would shudder at the very thought of getting caught for his crime and would give up his criminal tendencies. Ironically, the goriest punishments are those spelt out in the Shariat. Whether over a millennium of Shariat implementation has created a crime-free society anywhere is a moot question. If it has not, then should the punishments need to be even more gory for the desired effect? Maybe the solution could be to seek transformation of the criminal. But surely, for the transformation of criminals we would need a patient, perseverant and enlightened society. Do we have such a society? The goal of the best of religious masters has been to build such a society. Noble goal but with no widespread success so far. So as things stand, it is better to go in for quick-fix fire-fighting solutions. Kill the murderer and hope to stem the tide of evil clones.