Editorial

When Will Prosecution Start?

The Centre looks intentionally ambiguous about how to curb the rising rape crisis. They are talking about short-term measures, they are also talking about long term measures. In the end they may allow the status quo to prevail. Frustrated again and again in their efforts to pacify the aggrieved over the Delhi 16 December gang rape of a paramedic, they simply resorted to the time-tested tactic of diversion. Suddenly the Maoists began to make their presence felt at India Gate where a policeman succumbed to his injuries sustained while he was chasing the protesters, thanks to conventional wisdom of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Mr Shinde virtually lost his balance as he would go to the extent of equating the demonstrators with the armed Maoists. Maybe, the Kejriwal factor was there but the movement that attracted most apolitical and passive people was spontaneous. After the first phase of Anna Hazare agitation against corruption, the Delhi rape issue triggered a country-wide outburst against the persons in authority because of gravity of the problem and casual approach of the executors of law and order. Delhi is a small state but spill-over effect of Delhi agitation shows the mood of the people across the country. Rape by criminals and men in uniform is so rampant these days that the society is simmering with anger. ‘Mob violence’ in Delhi over the gruesome rape incident is just the message of the voiceless. After battling for life for 13 days the 23-year-old rape victim died in a Singapore hospital leading to unpre-cedented emotional outpouring throughout the country.

Political parties, irrespective of their colour and flag, are reluctant to take it seriously as if ignoring a burning question, will automatically abolish this social evil. Casteism has not been on the wane despite such a posture of the left. Nor will communalism coupled with religious fanaticism vanish in the thin air because so many secularists talk of secularism all the time.

In reality people’s spontaneous agitation against rape is basically aimed at targeting weak law against sexual offenders as well as the law enforcing authority that is heavily male-dominated and biased against women. Not all rape cases are reported in the media. Nor do the socially and economically disadvantaged dare to approach the law enforcers because justice in this ‘biggest democracy’ is too costly for the poor. This mass upheaval is actually a call for accountability which is lacking at every stage of governance. The situation is no better even in the so-called advanced democracies like America where most rape victims do not report to the media or to the police, but often confide only to the near relatives or a friend, who are at a loss what to do in such a case. In the US only 16 to 38 percent of rape victims report the rape to law enforcement, albeit ‘in the United States fewer than half of rape cases are successfully prosecuted’.
The Congress-led UPA-II government acts when it is being forced to act. As the recent incident of gang-rape and brutal sexual assault on a young woman in Delhi has shook the conscience of the nation and motivated apolitical and passive persons to take to streets, the Centre finally seems to have given some consideration to the need for review of the present criminal laws related to rape while ensuring speedier justice and enhanced punishment. The result : the floating of a committee under the Chairmanship of Justice J S Verma. The committee is supposed to submit its report within 30 days. A public notice has already been issued inviting suggestions on amendments to criminal laws relating to safety and security of women. But there is one problem in the Indian scenario : the ‘man proposes, god disposes’ syndrome destroys the very spirit of timely and unbiased justice.

There is no dispute over making the law more stringent, allowing the judiciary to dispose rape cases as quickly as possible. The debate is now over whether rape deserves capital punishment or not. The civil liberties movement has been campaigning against death penalty for long. But the government of India has not yet responded though the hanging of Pakistani jihadist Kasab has given a new lease of life to the debate. For one thing more than 100 countries have passed resolutions to abolish death penalty. Nothing can be worse than gang-rape as a rape victim dies everyday going through the trauma but general public opinion across the globe is against death penalty.

Not so surprisingly the police authorities see in the existing law sufficient power to punish the guilty. As it is the case in every Act, the problem lies in execution. Judges deliver good judgements only to see them gathering dust in shelves for years.

Security forces in this country have earned enormous notoriety in raping ordinary and helpless civilians when they are deployed in ‘‘disturbed areas’’ and Maoist insurgency-hit terrains. The agony of women of north-eastern states defies description. So is the case in Kashmir. And the tribals of Dandaka-ranya and Junglemahal know well how the guardians of law and order behave when they go for combing operations. And the government itself has given licence to the police personnel and para-military and military forces to do whatever they like in tackling Maoists and non-Maoists insurgents as if they are not citizens of India.

Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 26, Jan 6-12, 2013

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