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Rape & suicide: HC says enough is enough
Tribune News Service

The Chief Justice said the incident depicted a “very sordid sate of affairs”. The victim of rape was not only “harassed by policemen”, but also continuously threatened by the alleged rapists, he observed.

Compelled by “these adverse circumstances and filled with indignation, the minor girl thought the only course of action left was to end her life”.

The Chief Justice added: “Woman rights are human rights”, but in the present case the alleged rapists were “only not arrested, but were allowed to reportedly threaten the victim, as well as her family members. They were allowed to roam freely, and the repeated requests of the victim and her mother had no effect on policemen who remained deaf. On the contrary, they kept harassing the victim and her family by asking awkward questions and passing vulgar remarks, whenever the victim visited the police station”.

In his two-page order, the Chief Justice asserted: “Delhi has already acquired the dubious distinction of being labelled the ‘rape capital’ of the country. Irony is that the state of affairs is not confined to Delhi alone and the situation in Punjab is also far from satisfactory. There is not only an upsurge in general crimes against women, but also heinous and ghastly crimes like rape in the state.

“There is also a need for combating this rape culture by reforming various other institutions. Law for punishing such crimes appears on the statute book. It is the lack of adequate and enforcement system that also contributes to repeated commission of such offences. There is a need for proper law and order machinery in preventing such occurrences. In order to curb such criminality, criminal justice system also required to be revamped and strengthened.”