Ever since the nation struggling from price rise and corruption adopted girl and prayed for her life - the unanimous cries for death for the perpetrators of the heinous crime has been getting louder. For this case as it is the most heinous of heinous - hang them till they die.
But arent we being a bit trigger happy when saying that all rape should be met with the same end - death by hanging for the guilty?
More punishments over and above what already exists?
Are we proposing these as deterrents?
So am I to presume that the existing provisions (vast and very stringent) are not working? - these new provisions are going to work?
The issue as usual has been masterly sidetracked by the media and completely missed by those who represent "public opinion on TV".
If anybody heard the boys version of what happened - the key issues are:
1. No public came forward to help!! - That's because we have cases that go on for 100 yrs+ and nobody has the time to be a witness for that long - come on we all have a life - so the first issue is that the witness is to be treated like royalty, he will be taken at govt expense to the court, ONCE. where he will sign an affidavit in the presence of the magistrate and leave. In the course of the hearing if he is to be cross examined - the court at its expense will provide video conferencing (skype is free) and he can be crossed on his affidavit - nothing more. (we also have cases where the idiot judges have held witnesses in contempt of court for not being present for the 100th + hearing!!)
2. 2nd issue was that of the jurisdiction fight between the 3 PCR's who responded to the 100 call - the jurisdiction is always the place of the victim in such cases and where the victim comes to the station that police station!!
3. No cop as well as anybody in the hospital gave any clothes to the boy and girl who were naked. SHAME. This is the criminal act - where is the punishment recommendation to justice verma for this?
4. The FIR was lodged after the case was taken up by the media and the girl was adopted by an anguished nation. where's the punishment for this - existing or proposed?
If FIR's are lodged online and the investigation has to be completed within say 72 hrs - THEN the rest of the issues will sort itself out.
The criminals do what they do as the public is apathetic to the cause of justice due to reason 1 above and also the harassment at the hands of the police who take money from the guilty party and harass the complainant and his witnesses.(eg ruchika gehrothra case etc).
Trust me - we dont need more laws - existing ones if they are made humane are more than enough - the public will support it and that is the biggest deterrent to a criminal NOT the current demand for tougher punishments.
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As seriously as we view rape, we must view the triggering offences - the eve-teasing, the molesting, etc. FIRS MUST be registered in these cases. But the police investigate the complaint, and laugh off the incidents, or warn the offenders, and comfort the victim and counsel her on the 'problems' of FIR - there must be a review of unregistered FIRs at this stage itself. The complaints must be numbered and those that did not become FIRs must be examined for police explanations.
ReplyDeleteWhen a woman alleges non-consent, it is no business of any policeman to check whether she was appropriately dressed, where she was, the time etc before deciding whether the circumstances would be embarassing for her if an FIR is filed. If she has alleged a sexual assault, the FIR has to be registered.
The whole pre-registering investigative process has to be 'unlearned' and sensitised.
i like the thought on jurisdiction.
ReplyDeleteGood points. Yeah, we have a historical allergy against the police as we still consider them working for the Brits- not for "us", hence the police think so too :))
ReplyDeleteJokes aside. while the tragedy was morbid, at an individual level, be it anywhere in India or for that matter here, in the US, we just do not go to some parts of town at certain periods of the day/ night- not far from where we live, no one goes after 7 or 8 pm as you just might get caught in gang violence. Prevention is better than cure. It is indeed tragic that Mahatma Gandhi's dream of an India where a woman can walk home in the middle of the night unmolested is no where near of being realized.
yeah elizabeth - nation building is a tough act with an unresponsive/apathetic public to boot - it is near high impossible!!
ReplyDeletemeenakshi - bringing dreams to reality lies in how you build your nation - there has only been nation destruction as per the vote bank politics of the congress since independence.