By P.K.Balachandran
Colombo, September 6: On Tuesday, September 3, the West Bengal State Assembly unanimously passed the “Aparajita Women and Child Bill” which provides for the death penalty when rape is followed by the death of the victim. The All India law on rape does not mention death penalty as a punishment, only life imprisonment is to be awarded that too in the worst cases.
According to Section 64 (1) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (substitute for the colonial-era Indian Penal Code) punishment for rape is “rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years, but which may extend to imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural life, and shall also be liable to fine”.
But the West Bengal Bill prescribes: “Rigorous imprisonment for life, which shall mean rigorous imprisonment for the remainder of the person’s natural life and fine, or with death”.
The legislation also requires that investigations into rape cases be concluded within 21 days of the initial report.
The West Bengal legislation came 25 days after the rape and murder of a young doctor at the government-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, which triggered outrage across India.
However, experts told the media that stricter punishment or even the death penalty will not act as a deterrent or reduce the rate of the crime. Former Supreme Court Judge Asok Kumar Ganguly told The Hindu that stringent laws are already in place, but not implemented. He further said that the West Bengal legislation had taken away the right of pardon and commutation of sentence under Article 72 and Article 161 of the Constitution, under which the President and Governor could grant pardon.
Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the advocate representing the family of the victim, said that death penalty is no penalty and is no deterrent. There should be a provision for the reformation of the perpetrator, he said.
The other controversial step taken by the West Bengal government was the instruction that night duty not be assigned to women hospital staff as far as possible.
“Does the Chief Minister want women to leave their jobs and stay at home?” the father of the R.G.Kar hospital rape victim asked. Critics demand that hospitals be made safe for women at night. And with no women staff around at night, rapists might have it easy with female patients, they point out.
Rape is Widespread
Studies of rape in South Asia and Western countries show that it is widespread especially if marital rape is included. And the reasons for rape lie in social conditions and social norms and not so much in a criminal mind.
According to WHO, violence against women including rape, is as serious a cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer, and a greater cause of ill-health than traffic accidents and malaria combined.
The abuse of women is condoned in almost every society of the world, WHO says.
According to the Indian National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 33,356 total rape cases were registered in India in 2018 alone.
Among Indian states, Madhya Pradesh reported the highest (5,433) such cases in 2018, followed by Rajasthan (4,335), Uttar Pradesh (3,946), Maharashtra (2,142), Chhattisgarh (2,091), Kerala (1,945), Assam (1,648), Delhi (1,215), Haryana (1,296), Jharkhand (1,090) and West Bengal (1,069).
In almost 94 out of 100 rape cases, the victim was known to the offender. In 15,972 of the total 33,356 rape cases, the offenders were either family friends or a neighbour or the employer or a known person, while in 12,568 cases, the offenders were friends or online friends or a live-in partner or a separated husband (see: https://www.arfjournals.com/
Rape-victims are of different ages ranging from 3 to 50.
Actually the numbers should be more because many cases go unreported (including marital rape which is sex with the wife without her consent).
Social Roots
Rape is not reported because Indian society blames the victims and not the rapist. Typically, society would say: “You dressed inappropriately” or “You provoked him,” and let the rapist off the hook.
Mohammad Alam Chowdhury, Akkas Ahamed and Md. Sayedur Rahman say in their paper in the Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review (JSSHR)/Vol. 5, No. 2, 2020) that in Bangladesh, it is the rape victim who loses social esteem or honour and not the rapist. The family of the victim also losses social honour. These two is factors force the victim and the family not to tell the world about it by complaining to the police and going through a public trial.
“Bangladesh is gradually becoming a safe zone for rapists. There is a relationship between patriarchy and rape here. Also, a huge number of young people are involved in rape. Lack of the rule of law, and the culture of impunity in the legal process are the root causes of rape in the country. Political leaders with huge money and bureaucratic powers are given leeway in the legal process,” the authors say.
While rapists could come from any class or social strata, a notable feature is that the socially economically powerful classes indulge in it to show their power over the weak, and use their power to get away with it. A lower class man might rape an upper class or caste women in an act of social revenge against inequality.
Rape is common in areas where feudalism survives in some form. According to noted Bangladeshi journalist, Afsan Chowdhury, Bangladesh is largely a peasant society despite urbanization and material prosperity. In societies with a feudalistic past, rape is common. It is a matter of right for the socially and economically stronger man to lay a woman dependent.
Rural Bangladesh does give the impression of deep religiosity but the proliferation of beards and burkas serve to hide baser instincts from public view, Chowdhury said.
In at least one caste in South India, the daughter-in-law is legitimately raped by her father-in-law. In the modern contest, bureaucrats rape female clerks; house tutor rapes his female student.
Religious teachers rape female devotees in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. Nithyananda of Tamil Nadu, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and Asaram Bapu in North India, are godmen who were accused of sexual abuse and rape.
However, the likes of Ram Rahim Singh still have followers despite being convicted of rape. Some of Asaram’s followers claim that women more beautiful than the rape victim longed to get a glance from him.
Religious leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh “Insan” was held guilty on two counts of rape by a special court in Haryana in 2017. But this led to large-scale violent protests and vandalism in parts of North India, with over 200,000 people gathering near the court premises ahead of his verdict.
On June 1, the Vatican accepted the resignation of Indian Bishop Franco Mulakkal, almost five years after police arrested him on charges of raping a nun.
The soft Vatican “requested” his resignation, said a statement from the Apostolic Nunciature in India, adding that this action should not be seen as a “disciplinary measure imposed upon” the bishop.
The Vatican’s move in the Bishop Mulakkal case came 18 months after a lower court acquitted him, and when an appeal against the acquittal was pending in a higher court.
Mulakkal was the fourth Catholic bishop to resign over allegations of sexual abuse in India — all in the past 15 years according to UCA News.
In all four cases, the hierarchy had failed to act on its own against the accused but moved only after public outrage and police complaints.
Indian movies often have a rape scene, but the rapist is not shown in a positive light as he is usually the villain. But the way he entices a girl and rapes her, gives ideas to potential rapists in the audience.
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