New Delhi, August 26
Expressing concern over the recent spurt in sexual assaults in various parts of the country, the Supreme Court today decided to go into the entire gamut of problems of rape victims-from poor conviction rate to the absence of a uniform compensation and rehabilitation policy.

A Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and MB Lokur passed an order after enlarging the scope of a PIL filed by a person from Haryana’s Nilokheri tehsil whose school-going daughter was gang-raped on August 6, 2012, and wife murdered subsequently for lodging an FIR against the accused.

The petitioner had limited his prayers to Haryana, but the Bench asked him to amend it within two weeks making all the states and Union Territories as respondents who would have to respond to the PIL pleadings in eight weeks thereafter in larger public interest.

Appearing for the Dalit petitioner, whose identity has been withheld to protect the interest of his 16-year-old daughter, senior counsel Colin Gonsalves said the rape victims in Haryana were generally ostracized socially and forced to leave the village while the accused were protected by the ‘khap panchayats’ and the police.

In the case of the victim named in the PIL, she was removed from the school and her mother murdered, he said. Also, the police had asked the victim to wash her clothes which resulted in loss of evidence.

“What is wrong with the system - whether the police is not investigating properly, the criminal justice system is not working swiftly or social values have changed? It is far worse than any other crime. Why the incidents of rape are increasing,” the Bench wanted to know.

The Bench also wondered as to whether the victims were supporting their cases or wrong standards were being adopted for appreciating evidence which resulted in a poor conviction rate of just 10 per cent in rape cases.