Union Cabinet Errs On Hijacking... and more

The Union Cabinet of the Total Chacha State has approved new legislation that will make aircraft hijacking a capital offence. This will lead to a situation when anyone who hijacks an airplane will have no choice but to blow the plane up with himself and everyone else in it, because he is going to die anyway.

A parallel is the oft-talked about death penalty for rapists: this will give the rapist the incentive to murder his victim.

What is the best punishment for a hijack? Once again, I will take the same line: A simple hijacking should be treated as a tort and the tortfeasor made to pay compensation to all parties affected. Torts are a deadlier deterrent than any capital punishment.

The list of legal luminaries who make up the Union Cabinet is quite staggering to behold. The report says:

The issue of whether death sentence should be awarded to hijackers was sent to a Group of Ministers (GoM) after a meeting of the Union Cabinet, held two years ago, failed to arrive at a consensus on the issue. After the new government was formed last year, a new GoM was set up led by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to take a final decision on the issue. Union Law minister Veerappa Moily, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel were part of the ministerial panel which decided that capital punishment was necessary to send a strong message to hijackers.

Someone asked me the other day whether tort laws need to be “codified.” The answer is NO. It is a legal principle, like Property or Contract. The courts just need to judge each case separately and award suitable damages accordingly. No new legislation is required.

But do read the report about other decisions the Union Cabinet took - especially on Education. These propagandists seem to want to control our minds forever.