I would like to respond to Praba Ganesan's letter .

Firstly, it is not my intention to advocate 'violence begets violence' as a general principle. All I am saying is that the said snatch thief who died at the hands of some bystanders, does not deserve any sympathy at all from law-abiding citizens.

His death could have been accidental for all one knows, but under the prevailing circumstances of several deadly snatch thefts, to punish that group of people (and labeling them as criminals and murderers) who helped to apprehend the thief sounds preposterous.

I think we need to put into perspective as to who is the victim and who is the criminal. Why are we so concerned about protecting the criminals when nothing much seems to be done to protect the helpless victims?

If the police or the government cannot provide adequate protection to law-abiding citizens, don't you think that it would be natural for the people to take the law into their own hands when subject to pressure - although their actions may be wrong in the eyes of the law?

Granted, a holistic approach to tackle crime would help to eliminate the root causes of the problem itself. That would be ideal and the responsibility of the government.

But while waiting for this to take shape, we must look at immediate measures to mitigate the situation no matter how short term they may be.