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| HER WORLD | Sunday,
December 8, 2002,
Chandigarh, India |
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Social monitor Death
penalty not the answer Male viewpoint
Make the
law more effective When the
girl is a minor |
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Social monitor It is only when a rape occurs that the media wakes up and we are shocked into debating about the need for more stringent punishment and speedy trials. Even then we blame the courts, police, law and male attitudes and never ourselves. Do women not owe it to society to modify their child-rearing practices in order to sensitise boys right from childhood?
Nidhi, a young executive was asked to stay back after work for a meeting. As she waited for the meeting, two of her seniors sexually assaulted her and warned her of undesirable consequences if she opened her mouth. In both the cases the accused went scot-free while the girls still live under trauma. Stop. You will not like what you read. A lot has been said, a lot heard and a lot debated but the truth is still out here clutching our chest like guilt: Every 54 minutes a woman is raped in our country. Nearly one-third of rape victims are under 16 years of age. Only 16 per cent of the total rapes cases are reported and the conviction rate is a dismal 4.5 per cent. In 84 of every 100 cases, the victims knew the offenders and the neighbours in three of every 10 cases. Why does a girl not feel safe anymore? Be it on road, school, college, office... why?
"Every time I read or hear of a rape, my first reaction is to shoot the rapist. But then I think - is this the solution?" asks Kamaldeep Kaur, faculty department of English, Panjab University. Statistics show dismal conviction rate in case of rape. And in rural India, about one per cent of raped women dare to lodge complaints. Then there are countless minor girls, some of whom have not even reached puberty, who are raped without realising what is happening to them. It is in this context that we are talking of capital punishment for rapists. How much more absurd can you get? "The surety of the punishment rather than severity of it, is the only deterrent for a rapist," says Kamaldeep. "Passing the law is not enough, it is certainty of conviction that is important," she adds.
But are the existing laws not sufficient and finally we realise it after 50 years? "I feel the existing laws in themselves are sufficient, it is the pace at which justice is met that needs to be monitored," says Dr Ashima Joshi, Principal, Maharana Pratap PG College, Ambala. "The death penalty for rape cannot be understood in isolation. It is unlikely to lead to an increase in the conviction of rapists, since judges will be loath to indict such severe sentences. The death penalty is an easy solution to a complicated problem," she adds. "It is not enough to have noble intentions, they must be backed up by practical measures. And death penalty for rape victims is hardly that. The society, and particularly the men in it, must first be sensitised, followed by prompt conviction of the offenders, and then case-specific judgments must be given. The more violent the rape, the harsher the penalty. The harshest being castration, already in practise in some countries," adds Sreyashi Dastidar, a senior journalist from Calcutta.
"I agree that rape is the most heinous crime and any punishment is less," says Jatin Salwan, Lawyer, Punjab and Haryana High Court. "But the infamous ‘rape-on-wheels’ case puts doubts on the myth that prosecution is always right. Now the prosecution will be more vigilant as there could be chances of framing and manipulations. And if there was capital punishment, one person would have lost life to manipulation," he adds. "If the Government is really concerned and serious about the state of women, there’s a lot to be done," says Prof Kushal Deb, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay. "First gender sensitivity needs to be built in all the three wings of the system — the police, the judiciary and the corrective apparatus."
"Why are we looking at such severe punishment for an extreme crime? Why not punish the man when he tries to misbehave with a women in slightest of ways," asks Soma Mukherjee, Professor, Calcutta Girls College, Calcutta. "When we don’t punish men for eve teasing, passing foul comments, pinching in public… we encourage them to commit such crime," she adds. "How can we allow the convict to make such an easy escape with death, while the victim forever fights back to life. It does not help the victim overcome the aftermath, rather we, the society, need to be scrutinise ourselves. If it not the fear of society more than her personal trauma that the victim is sacred off?" says Arup Banerjee, a city based IT professional.
"Like in few western countries, the law should make sure that the convict pays life long financial aid and 50 per cent share to all his property he has to the victim," he adds. And finally, there can be no compromise on the basic human rights standard, regardless of the nature of the crime. The death penalty has always operated against disadvantaged communities in every place in the world where it has been enforced. India is no exception to this rule. "Rather than capital punishment, we need to send the convict to a rehabilitation centre. After all it’s mental sickness," adds Professor Deb. "And as a society we need to be forthcoming, try not to ostracise the victim (as mostly happens) rather help the humiliated individuals start afresh. After all, it’s not her fault if she’s raped." We all agree that rape is a violation one’s human rights and not tied with her essential self worth. But then let’s honestly answer, when we hear of rape are we not waiting to know how was she dressed? Where was she going? What time of the day was it? How much of our outlook changes when we are presented with a woman post-sexual assault? Rather than looking at rape as violation committed by a man against a woman, let’s look at it as an evil phenomena encouraged by the society. First we need to understand that no woman invites rape, even if her dress does appeal to you. And, the first time your daughter,
sister or wife tries to tell that she feels uncomfortable with
someone, please take it seriously. She’s trying to tell you
something, rather than asking her not to feel awkward. When we see a
girl being eve-teased, let’s teach that offender a lesson then and
there so that he does not repeat the crime. We should make it clear
from the beginning that we will not let anyone get away with
misbehaviour. |
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Death penalty not the answer THREE incidents of rape in the past month — of a student of Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, of sex workers by policemen in Hyderabad and of a school teacher allegedly by her students in Agra — has put the issue of rape just where it should never be — in the headlines. One question that is being asked is: Should rape be made punishable by death? In times when extremism, both in beliefs and in actions, is often given the credibility it does not deserve, many would say "yes". And that is the answer that 66 per cent of 2241 respondents gave in response to the question "Should there be death penalty for rape?" carried by The Tribune Internet edition. And remember that these responses were from NRIs settled in countries where public opinion doesn’t favour capital punishment; the positive responses would probably have been higher had the respondents been Indians living in India. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani has become the latest and, perhaps, the most prominent public figure to moot capital punishment for rape. Other well-known persons, including Najma Heptullah, Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha, apart from women activists and organisations, too, favour death for rape. While it is easy to get swayed by sloganeering that bays for the blood of the perpetrators of a crime as heinous as rape, it is worthwhile to stop and ask whether death penalty would indeed discourage rape. More than the severity of punishment it is the certainty of being punished that an effective deterrent. In other words, death penalty is not likely to deter a would-be rapist if he feels that he can get away with the crime. And if the fact that a majority of rapes are not reported and less than four per cent of those that are actually end in conviction is any indication, he will have good reason to believe so. Paradoxically, capital punishment will actually bring down conviction rate since courts are extremely wary about awarding the maximum punishment, let alone death penalty. Moreover, since the trial of a crime that carries a death sentence takes that much longer, it will not only prolong the agony of the victim but will also contravene the most basic requirement of a rape trial — that of speedy justice. Again, there is the risk of endangering the victim’s life, as the rapist might be tempted to reason that since his crime carries the death penalty he might as well kill his victim to ensure that she can’t testify against him. Then even if he is caught and charged with murder, the worst he can get is a death sentence, which he would have got for rape in any case. The reason why the incidence of rape is rising across the country isn’t because the punishment isn’t severe enough, but because rapists are either not caught or not convicted, and even if by some miraculous turn of fate the legal system becomes agile enough to actually bring a rapist to court, the trial that ensues is so prolonged, so insensitive and so harrowing for the victim that she wishes she had never got the complaint registered in the first place. The rapist rapes her and then the police, the courts and the society do all they can to ensure that she never forgets it. And that is the crux of the problem and therein lies the answer as well. A less knee-jerk and more pragmatic solution lies in speedy, in camera trials that promise conviction and not in newer and more severe penalties. Make it easier for the victim to register a complaint, have all-women police stations, protect the victim’s identity as far as possible, don’t allow the defence counsel to resort to obscene and offensive cross-examination, in the absence of positive identification give more credence to circumstantial evidence, ensure that the victim doesn’t have to recount the rape over and over again and that too in full public glare, and don’t put the entire onus of reporting the crime and providing proof on her, ensure that the legal system adopts a supportive role. Another factor that needs to be kept in mind is to see that the issue of the victim’s sexual history (oh, you know, she’s a whore, she is sleeping with her boyfriend), or social conduct (she wears revealing dresses, walks suggestively, smiles at men, is often out alone, parties till late, drinks or smokes, has boyfriends, in short she had it coming, or worse, asked for it) is kept out of trial, after all it is the rapist who is on trial, not the victim. Not enough can be said in favour of speedy trials of rape cases. A trial that carries on for years can safely be said to have failed even if it does eventually lead to conviction because more than anything else a rape victim wants to carry on with the life safe in the knowledge that her rapist is behind bars. If the trial is going to
last all eternity and make the victim relive her horror, maybe even add
to it, and that too with almost nil chances of conviction, it would be
naïve to assume that rape cases are going to make it to the courts,
much less that would-be rapists would be deterred. The answer lies not
in revising the penal code but in telling both the victim and the
society that the law is on her side and not against her. |
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Male viewpoint ACCORDING to Section 375, a man is said to have committed rape if he has sexual intercourse with a women in circumstances falling under any of the six following descriptions:
Rape is not just a legal offence; it is an assault on the dignity of the victims and leaves a permanent scar on their psychology. The fear of rape constitutes a special burden not shared by men. Psychologically, rape devastates many victims. Victims of sexual assault often experience fear, anxiety, and depression in addition to difficulty in sexual relationships and other psychological and physical symptoms that debilitate. Many women feel that as a wife, they "owe" their husband sex on demand. "No matter who the people are or what their relationship is—the fault always lies with the person who commits the act." Rape is not sex. Rape is power, aggression, domination, and, always, humiliation. It has to do with all things being unequal. It makes you feel less than human. Just like the family dog." The physical, emotional, and economic scars caused by marital rape can be, and often are, long-lasting and can alter a victim's interpersonal relationships permanently.
Amanpreet, Sourabh, Tajinder and Mool Raj, students of Department of Mass Communication participated in a discussion about reasons for rape. While Amanpreet felt that separate education for boys and girls creates an atmosphere, which Sourabh further classified as "frustration emerging out of failure to understand women", where men become prone to sexual experimentation.
Tajinder believes that it is the kind of clothes, which women wear these days that incites men, he adds that academic incompetence of boys also leads to incidence of rape. Mool Raj believes that because male attitudes have not been able to cope with the changes in female attitudes, it has led to a rise in frustration levels among men. Amanpreet think that rapists are men who are not mentally occupied. Tejinder suspects unemployment among men as a reason for this. He also feels that since boys have not been able to control girls these days (which Sourabh remarks as their not been able to dominate female species), it has irked some men.
Mool Raj raises a question about the institution of marriage (if it is a sexual contract). Amanpreet maintains that every woman has a right over her body and consent has to be there, When they were asked if the sexual fantasies amounts to rape, the opinion was shared. Amanpreet felt that thinking of rape is not wrong, but doing it was wrong. Tajinder too accepts this. Amanpreet was of the view that seduction can be allowed.
Mool Raj narrates the case of 65-year-old men raping a teenaged girl and says that rape of minors take place often and that too by known men or guardians. Sourabh said that law should take its own way. Tajinder emphasises the need for more stringent laws, while Mool Raj believed that males should change their attitudes by demolishing the past dominance. All of them agreed
on the need for enforcement of a sex-education programme and
switching over to co-education. |
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Time-bound trials a must THE contradiction is our society is that while women are revered here as goddesses, violence against women has steadily gone up. But what is even more shocking is that the perpetrators of these crimes get away scot-free. Why it that society always awakens from its stupor after the occurrence of an incident of violence against women? Why do we have to wait for women to be traumatised before we take action? Our approach should be to pre-empt and prevent violence against women. Rape is a horrific crime and leaves not just physical but mental scars on women. In order to deal with the problem, first we must ensure that the law is severe enough to deter such a crime. I am in favour of capital punishment. But death should not come easily to such criminals. They need to be humiliated in public and I feel public flogging will do the trick. Of course, this punishment can be possible only after the rapist is found guilty. Rape trials take so let off because women do not want to relive the trauma day after day, year after year. Rape trials should not only be in camera but they should be time-bound if convictions are to take place. Judges should be able to decide cases of rape within a month of their registration. Let there be special tribunals to decide these cases; surely such a heinous crime deserves special courts. I favour involving the people in such tribunals/courts in the form of jury members. If the people belonging to the community of the victim constitute the jury, it will galvanise society to become more active. Just like students of the medical college (Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi) of the young victim (of rape) rallied around and mobilised support, it would be good to get other sections of society also involved in understanding the trauma women go through. It is always the victim who is made to feel ashamed. She is looked down upon and the general feeling is 'she must have invited it'. This is one of the reasons women do not complain. But if there is greater support and understanding from society, it will encourage women to come forward and speak out. This in turn will ensure the police do their job too. I am planning to initiate a discussion with women's organisations, NGOs, members of the public, representatives of local governments and MPs on how we can fight this crime. I hope we can evolve some form of people's groups that can act as a watchdog on crimes against women. We have to also raise the level of consciousness through awareness. It has become imperative to ensure gender sensitivity right from the beginning and this can be done through education in schools, training courses for various organisations and professional courses. I have been trying to raise awareness for the past two years through plays and poster campaigns. In fact, on March 8, 2000 (International Women's Day), I asked a theatre group to stage a play focussing only on violence against women on the campus and on the street. At that time, many people came forward and said they would take up the fight. It is only after the media pursues a particular case or it is taken up in Parliament by some of us that society awakens. Home Minster L K Advani has stated in Parliament that he is agreeable to the death penalty. There seems to be some discord over this suggestion because there is a fear that this might lead to the death of the rape victim. Whether or not this suggestion is ultimately accepted, what is heartening to note is that there is no discord over the need to strengthen laws against rapists and award the severest of penalties. But Parliament must show its commitment also by discussing the reports of the National Commission for Women (NCW). The NCW has been constituted to further the cause of women. It has a major role to play here as well. There is no point in directing the NCW to produce a report and then allow it to gather dust. In the past, the NCW has come up with very good suggestions after studying violence against women. But nothing concrete seems to have come out of it. Perhaps the government needs to expand the role of NCW by giving it more legal powers. Women might feel more comfortable and safe approaching the NCW than police stations. This is more so in the wake of reports we read about how women who go to police stations to file a complaint are raped by policemen. Only when we adopt a multi-pronged approach, can we tackle this problem. I strongly believe that people have to be involved, only then can we awaken society and fight this abhorrent crime together. (As told to Swapna Majumdar) The writer is Deputy Chairperson Rajya Sabha — WFS |
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Make
the law more effective THOUGH by The Criminal (Amendment),Act,1983 the definition of rape under Section 375, has been widened and four more sections have been inserted to deal with offences not amounting to rape, but the question that surfaces is that is the amendment of only the definition without corresponding amendment in the Criminal Procedural Code and the Evidence Act, enough? After all the procedural laws are also involved in enforcement of law. Code of criminal procedure should be amended in rape cases so as to provide for prompt presentation of challan before the lapse of 90 days so that the accused does not get the benefit of deemed release as there is a provision providing for release of a person if the challan is not submitted by the police within 90 days. For these type of cases the law should provide for having a SIT ,(special investigation team for investigation of crimes against women, comprising of police officers of the Women's cell and the investigation should be carried out under the supervision of a gazetted officer ) so as to facilitate speedy and neutral presentation of challan. The Criminal
Procedural Code should be amended and it should provide a
timeframe for disposal of such cases expeditiously as the
long-drawn out trial gives the accused or his family an open
ground to tamper with the evidence and instances of witnesses
being purchased and becoming hostile cannot be ruled out. In
camera proceedings alone are not enough and law should provide for
special courts for trial of such cases so that a speedy trial
takes place. Section 114-A of Evidence Act raises a presumption in
favour of the statement of woman where a question involved is that
of the consent of a woman but further there should be a law which
provides for strict action against people who subject the victim
to humiliating questions at the cross examination stage which have
no relevance to the case but are targeted at psychologically
torturing the person. As medical evidence forms an important
evidence as far as these cases are concerned so there should be
some law made in consultation with the medical experts which
provide against tampering of medical evidence. Most common
instance of tampering is where the victim is below sixteen to
prove her consent she is proved to be above sixteen by hook or by
crook. |
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When
the girl is a minor A minor girl of 11 years was kidnapped, from Panchkula, three years back. She was kept in Ramgarh for two days and then taken to Pilibhit in U.P. when she tried to escape, she was beaten with iron rods and was forcibly married to the kidnapper. She gave birth to a girl child, in Pilibhit. She was brought back to Ramgarh, and after sometime driven out of the house. What does law say on this... According to IPC Section 361 of IPC, the consent is of the minor is immaterial, because they are, by law, incapable of assigning a valid consent. According to Section 375 IPC, sexual intercourse by a man with his wife under 15 years of age is rape, whether it has been done with or without fee consent. What needs to be done... The ambit of Section 375, should be expanded, as it considered only the private parts of man, which enters into the person of the woman. It does not include, any foreign body inserted by rapists, as is often the case with rape of minors. Girls should be encouraged to speak about it, and not consider it as a social stigma and feel responsible for having brought it upon themselves. The male child, should be educated about the issue, men in general should be sensitised. Regarding the debate on capital punishment initiated by the Home Minister, it has already proved to be a fiasco in USA, it does not serve the purpose as trial a appeal were takes time to decide the case, meanwhile the evidence already gets destroyed. In most cases, rape is done because of some psychological problem.. The law already provides for life imprisonment, which is sufficient. What is required is a speedy trial and conviction. In-camera proceeding
is mandatory so that identity of the victim is not revealed. |
RADHIKA
got into her school rickshaw, last Friday to get back home. It was a
routine ride with friends. ‘Rickshaw bhaiya’ dropped all
her friends and took a detour into a deserted construction. Raped the
ten- year old in broad day light and moved on.
