PUNISHMENT AS A SOCIAL AND MORAL AGENCY

Law is one of the important pillars of the state. To administer justice, punishment is needed. There are various theories of punishment which are retributive, deterrent, and reformative. Punishment is a recognized function of all the states. With the passage of time the systems of punishment have met with different types of changes and modifications. There is a lot of criticism from the side of different NGOs and organizations of human rights, but the institution of punishment always remained a recognized one. To administer justice is an essential function of the state and it is the duty of the state to provide a peaceful environment to its people. Thus, philosophy behind the concept of punishment is not only to provide justice to the aggrieved but besides this to maintain security and safety in the society, to punish a criminal is not only to give torture to him or to humiliate, but there is a higher objective to be achieved and that is to establish a peaceful society. We can find a synthesis of three kinds of punishment in the Qur’ān. The purpose of the Qur’ānic concept of punishment is to establish a peaceful society. For this purpose sometimes punishment is ordained and sometimes forgiveness is desirable.