OPINION: India - needs to have stringent laws & punishment in rape cases

Most shameful incident in Capital

The Delhi brutal gang rape underlines urgent need for prioritising crimes against women, this brutal gang rape of a 23 year old physiotherapist women in a moving bus in the capital of our country, is not only a matter of shame; rather it is one of most shameful and inhuman act committed, which has virtually brought bad name for our Country and is another grim reminder of how unsafe the capital is for women. Where are we heading for? Where today men have stopped behaving like human beings and have started behaving like animals… rather worse than animals. With rise of several such heinous cases of rape and outrage of modesty committed on women is a matter of regret and deep concern. Its time for the Parliament not only to announce statements regarding having fast track courts...tough laws..... safety for women at the time only when such vicious incidents happen in our country, in-fact its need of hour for the relevant authorities to be vigilant in arresting such unscrupulous elements who indulge in such inhuman acts – rape cases. As witnessing this most heinous crime it seems the fear of punishment provided in section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, the punishment in rape cases is life imprisonment or 10 years in jail has no impact within the perpetrators who are still indulging in committing such rape cases. On top priority the accused who has committed this heinous crime need to be dealt with most stringent punishment so that in future nobody dares to act in such a crime, keeping in mind scare of punishment as this will also serve as an alarm for other evil and unscrupulous elements within our country who indulge to commit such inhuman acts.

Today it’s the need of hour for our country law making agencies to enact the most stringent punishment to the culprits involved in this heinous and inhuman crime (RAPE). As earlier the Hon’ble Supreme Court decision of ruling out capital punishment for rape cases, has not been an appropriate decision,rather the section – 376 of Indian Penal Code having minimum punishment is minimum 7 – 10 years or a life term, this should be made a more stringent offence – tough law in the Indian Penal Code. One possible solution is to increase the severity of the punishment for such crimes i.e. Death Penalty, as this will be the only substitute for the unscrupulous elements who commit such ruthless acts and the offenders this way cannot frequently be dismissed and they will have any fear of punishment and think twice before committing such serious crime – ‘Rape’.  All rape cases must be tried in fast track courts, if found guilty should be dealt with severely and severity of punishment will ultimate deter such criminals.  

Even the society needs to boycott such unscrupulous elements who indulge in such heinous crime. It is high time to constitute a separate task force to check the increasing cases of gang rape with our country. The investigating agency should also ensure that a rape victim (women) feels safe to give statement before the police authorities, keeping in mind that she should not lose her image further in society. Lawyers consequently being the vital cog in the creation and maintenance of societies in which the rule of law, democratic values and human rights are observed, should urge not to let any sort of “protectionism” in the legal system towards the aid of the accused who commit offences related to rape.

*The author is a practicing High Court Criminal Lawyer and Former Additional Advocate General, Punjab.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of City Air News.)