Death Penalty for Rapist

B L Saraf
Union Government   has   promulgated    The Criminal Law ( Amendment), Ordinance   2018  that provides for death penalty to those  convicted of raping a child below 12 years and life term for raping a girl below age of 16 years.  Aim     of the Ordinance is to  ensure effective deterrence   against rape  and  instil a sense of security among women , particularly young girls in the country.  A number of measures  have  been put in place   for speedy investigation , completion of trial  and disposal of the appeals.   The Government has also decided to strengthen   investigation and   prosecution, including setting up of fast track courts and special forensic labs  in each   State   besides maintaining national data base of sexual offenders. The Ordinance has been promulgated  in the wake of nationwide outrage  over rape and murder of  teenage girl in Kathua  and  other cases  reported     from different parts of the country.
President  has  approved the Ordinance, following which the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences  ( POCSO )  Act,   I PC   and  the Evidence Act  stand amended.
We are reminded of the   brutal  sexual assault on a young girl in Delhi ,on 16th  December 2012 and her consequent death   – (  Nirbaya   case ).  Whole nation went up in outrage.  Whereupon    GoI   appointed a committee headed   by Justice J S Verma,  former Chief Justice  of   India,   with  two eminent jurists as  its members   to  “look into possible amendments of the criminal  law to provide for  quicker trial and enhanced punishment for   the  criminals committing sexual assault  of extreme nature against   women.”  The   committee was constituted   in response to  a  nationwide  outcry of the people   against failure of Government to provide a safe and dignified environment for   women of  the country, who are     exposed to sexual violece.
The committee, after examining   the  representations made by  various  civil society  groups, individuals and  persuing  relevant laws    in view of the international trends, made certain far reaching recommendations  for redefining  offences  pertaining to the women. It proposed changes in  other laws also which the committee found   to  have  a    bearing on the terms of   mandate.  Coming to the main    terms  of reference,  the  committee  recommended redefining offence of ‘ rape ‘  within  the  provision     on sexual  assault, with a view to emphasise women’s right to    bodily integrity  and  honour.
However ,  the  committee  did    not    accede  to the  demand of     recommending death penalty  to the  rapist.   While dealing with this aspect of the matter  it has, possibly, taken into the consideration the international standards of human rights. Even today, persons who work for child care and protection   hold    same view .  They say ,   with some merit, that death penalty in these cases  will result in  number of these cases going unreported  because in most of the cases  it is the family member or a close acquaintance who commits the offence. National Crime Record Bureau  (Bureau)  has produced  latest data   which reveals that  96 of the rapes  are committed by family members.  That is why conviction rate in cases of rape is  just 24 per cent . It is only 20 percent under POCSO Act.
The   Verma   Committee  did   enthuse   new life to the public  discourse on  the sexual abuses  of women .   Majority of the  recommendations  have been incorporated in the  relevant laws.  But  a reality check is needed before  embarking on new legislation ; has life of  a poor girl child or  an  adult female been made any safer and better after the   Verma Committee recommendations were put  on the statute book ?    Going through the reports   emanating  from  every part of the country, it appears that  females continue to be as vulnerable as they were before  the Justice  Verma  report.
How ironic ? While  a girl child continues to suffer sexual assault   it is the male  juvenile who is   main   perpetrator of   the sexual offence. As per the  Bureau,  in the year 2011  64 percent of the crimes   has  been committed by  juveniles in the age group of 16 – 18.  Therefore to tighten the  noose around the juveniles   in this   age group        Parliament , in 2015 ,   introduced ” Judicial Waiver System ”  in the J  J  Act  which allows   juveniles to be treated as   adults , in certain conditions  , in the adult criminal justice system  and punishes them as   such.
Kathua   is in J &K . So onus is on the State Government to ensure fast tracking of the case . To her credit,  C M Mehbooba   Mufti   has been asking for  it.    But   she must be told that, leave alone Fast Track  Courts,   number of  normal  courts    have become  non-functional  in the State.  Some suffer for  want of Presiding Officers others for lack of basic infrastructure and the staff.   The institution of Fast  Track Courts, across the country,  has  withered  away after   Finance Commissions  stopped funding them.  If we mean real business,   then these fast track courts   need  be created  in dozens, fast ,  after due budgeting.  In   the meanwhile  State Government  should provide staff  and related infrastructure   to  the existing courts.
Then there is a   need  to have  a law in the State which is analogous  to the    POCSO  Act.  State Government must  bring in changes in the criminal laws as proposed in the Central Ordinance .  Otherwise ,  intention to save a girl child will remain only a pious declaration.
All    said ,  it is better to   strengthen existing laws   and ensure certainty of the conviction in a time bound  schedule.   Severity in   punishment  may be an option   but it   brings in   a concomitant factor which often leads  to free  walking   of the accused. It is the cardinal rule of criminal jurisprudence that more the severity in sentencing more heavy is the burden to   bring  home  a  charge  to the accused. In such cases  even  a  minor    infarction  of   a mere  technicality  gives  huge benefit to the accused. At the same tim, it is of paramount importance that safety of the victims and witness is ensured .  Fast tracking of these cases will  surely yield desired results.
It will be  profitable  to recall here  how the Verma Committee    concluded  its report  . These conclusions hold good even today   . It  said   that the existing laws if faithfully and sincerely implemented by a credible laws enforcement agencies, are sufficient to maintain law  and order   and protect  safety and dignity of the people, particularly women  and punish   offenders who commit  any crime. It has underlined  the necessity   for  improving    law    keeping in view     the  modern times. Therefore, it comes to effective and timely implementation of the laws  rather than  having more  of them  that will ensure  law and order in the society.
The global  experience  gathered  over   a period of time shows that it is   the  fear   of  quick meeting out  the  punishment to the  offender than  its  severity which   acts as an deterrent.
We hope  that    new law will    bring in desired results: that    two months time  limit for investigation, two months for completion of the  trial  and six months period for disposal of the appeals, provided in the Ordinance,  won’t   end up  as  Quixotic    declarations .
(The author is former   Principal   District   & Sessions Judge)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com

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