Indian Rape Laws Sufficient To Protect Rightful Victim?

The Rape Laws In India Sufficient To Protect The Rightful Victim

Written By Khwahish Khurana

Introduction

“Boys will be boys, they commit mistakes” – Mulayam Singh made such a statement when a gang rape took place in April 2014. “Rapes are sometimes right”, “should have not gone out of home in the dark”, “if women dress proactively, then rapes are not in the control of the police”. These all statements and many more are made by renowned politicians. Living in the 21st-century people still blame women and their clothes if they become victims of rape. Not realizing that therapists and the people supporting them failed brutally, as human beings. The public transports, stepping out in the dark, nothing is safe for a woman. Is this the future we imagined?

Justice delayed is justice denied – Nirbhaya rape case

March 20th, 2020 a very precious day for the entire nation when the convicts of nirbhaya rape case were hanged to death in Tihar jail in Delhi after the inhuman crime they committed in 2012. Nirbhaya’s parents and the whole nation fought together to punish the convicts for their monstrous acts. Dec 16, 2012, was the night when six people (including the driver) who were in a bus, stopped the bus and offered a ride to a 23-year-old girl (Nirbhaya) and her male friend who was waiting for an auto. The friend suspected some problem with the route and when he objected, he was knocked down by an iron rod.

The 23-year-old was dragged to the corner and raped. When she resisted, a juvenile, who was one of the six men, inserted an L-shaped rod into her which pulled out her intestines. After raping her, they threw the victim out of the bus and even tried to kill her by running the bus over her but somehow her friend managed to save her. The girl couldn’t survive and passed away on the 29th of Dec, 2012. FIR was filed against only 5 men and the 6th one being a juvenile, was released after just 2 months of sending him to a juvenile home. One of the 5 accused committed suicide in the Tihar jail on Jan 28, 2013, and was declared dead. The remaining 4 accused were hanged 7 years and 4 months later.

This case raised so many questions in the minds of people and many commented on social media platforms that they had lost hope and faith in the Indian judicial/justice system. Why did the case take more than 7 years to be resolved? Why did the parents have to fight and live in pain for so long in order to get justice? Why was the minor allowed to scot-free, when he was the most active member in the rape case? Why was he still treated as a minor after committing such a heinous crime? Wasn’t he equally or rather more responsible for the crime? In this case, Indian laws and their procedures were also a culprit that couldn’t provide speedy justice to the girl and her parents.

Rape cases that shook the nation

After the Nirbhaya rape case, Fast-track courts were introduced. Stalking, voyeurism, and intentional touching were noted as crimes but there was no end to rape crimes happening in the nation. According to a report from India today., 24 more rape per day were recorded, since the Nirbahaya rape case in 2012.

There were rape cases like Shakti Mills gang rape that happened in 2013, just a few months after the Nirbhaya case. In this case, a 22-year-old girl was raped by 5 men and was threatened to not complain to the police. When convicts later confessed to raping multiple girls in that same area where the 23-year-old was raped.

Two out of five men were sent to a juvenile home just for a period of 3 years and were then released. The remaining 3 were sentenced to death. Similarly in the Badaun Gang rape, two minor girls were raped and killed and afterward were found hanging on a mango tree in UP. This was committed by 5 men including 2 police constables. Due to the police involvement in the crime, CBI inquiry claimed that the girls committed suicide and weren’t raped and all the charges were dropped.

Now the parents have appealed in front of the additional district judge which is still pending. When the crime preventers would become offenders, how can we expect the country to be in safe hands? In Dec 2014, an uber driver raped a 27-year-old woman in his cab and was later convicted on 20th Oct 2015. There were plenty of such cases which showed how cruel and inhuman people can become. But just if nirbhaya case was resolved sooner, the rape cases that happened afterward might have been prevented.

Are rape laws enough to protect the righful victims

Rape law in India was amended after the Nirbhaya rape case. Tougher laws were introduced but it’s also a stark reality that Indian females still continue to be as unsafe as ever. But such laws are and have proved to be useless as there hasn’t been any reduction in rape crimes since then. Every day newspapers report plenty of rape cases. Imposing stricter laws won’t on its own prevent crimes until they are implemented immediately. Indian system is so time-consuming that there’s no fear in the minds of the people.

They know it takes years for a case to be resolved and many times, the criminals get away with it if they are some sort of famous personalities or know such people. There are several politicians who were charged with rape but easily got away with it because of their status. Additionally, Legal remedies should not be made available to the convicts of such heinous crimes. The death penalty is too easy for such people. They should be tortured as the victim had been tortured. Mercy petition shouldn’t be allowed in such a heinous case like nirbhaya. The Saudi law system where justice is extremely tight and time-bound should be adopted by India at least for such heinous crimes. The judicial procedure should be expedited. All the cases should be finished within one year or in less time otherwise, there will be no reduction in rape crimes.

Conclusion

The law itself can’t stop the crime until it’s complemented with expedited judicial proceedings. The Indian judicial system is too slow in order to provide justice to its people. The judiciary should not be biased as it happens when a politician or some known personality commits the same crime. Just like it happened in the badua gang rape, wherein because of police involvement, the evidence was tampered with. Public transports should be made safer in case of women passengers so the women have a much safer environment. The death penalty is way too easy a punishment for such people. They should be punished in a way that could make them suffer as much pain as they gave to the victims and their families. Lawmakers should come up with more strict laws rather than imposing just death penalties on the accused.

Key Words

Rape Laws, Rightful Victim, Rape Laws in India, Protect