VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
In the recent memory, nothing caught the
collective imagination of the country like the brutal and violent gang rape and
death of the 23-year old girl in Delhi .
Protests continue unabated, debates are being carried out in the media, on the
social networking sites and every possible platform.
My fear is that the plethora of debates,
hundreds of platforms and bringing in a host of issues from women liberation,
dowry, bringing down the age for conviction of the juveniles, summary
punishment to the accused, chemical castration, etc could lead to a situation
where the seriousness of the law makers on the issue would be lost. They would
be as confused as the common citizens of the country.
No one knows who wants what but everyone
nevertheless is making a point. Hundreds
and thousands of points have been made on the issue. But very few are talking
about the core issues which lead to crime, the certainty of punishment as a
deterrent for such brutal crimes, the accountability of the police and the
judicial system and the need to overhaul them.
Even as the candle march protests go on,
another hapless woman was raped in Noida and thrown out on the roads, a rape
victim committed suicide in Patiala, a police ASI was killed in Amritsar in a
bid to protect his daughter from the eve-teasers, a woman had to jump out of a
moving train in Bihar to save herself from the eve-teasers.
All of a sudden, there has been a spurt in
reported rape cases throughout the country after the tragedy in Delhi .
It seems that the candle light vigils and the protests had not had the desired
impact of changing the mindset and creating awareness against the crime.
My point is simple. No amount of candle light
vigil and protest would prevent crimes of this nature. In fact, in a recent
incident in Chandigarh , a woman
protestor herself became a victim of molestation even though her friends caught
the culprit and thrashed him.
One has to go deep into the malaise of crime,
the criminal justice system and investigations and overhaul them completely.
Protests make a point but it doesn’t provide solutions.
Even if the law provides for Capital
punishment for rape, I doubt how many people would be caught, convicted and
then hanged. The last hanging which took place in the country was of Mumbai
terror convict Ajmal Kasab and before that you will have to take the help of
the search engines of Internet to find the right answer.
Everyone in the country knows that there is
death penalty for murder but has it acted as a deterrent and stopped murders in
the country. So even if you make changes in the Indian Penal Code and provide
for death to the rapists, the heinous crime is not going to stop. The rapists
know that first it would be difficult to catch them, then get evidence and
finally convict them. There is no certainty of punishment.
This was the time to bring in a system where
there is certainty of punishment. If a rapist knows that there is certain that
he would be caught, convicted and sent to jail for the period prescribed in the
IPC, I am sure he would think ten times before committing a sexual crime. But
has the issue been taken seriously. I am afraid that it hasn’t been. The
vacancies in the lower and higher judiciary have existed for decades. No one is
bothered. Cases linger on for years and sometimes decades. Why can’t a system
be devised wherein a cap is put on the number of days a trial would run and
judgment announced.
In the Delhi gang rape case, the trial would
be swift and I am sure given the attention the case has got, the guilty could
well get Capital punishment. But this case would be an exception. There are
hundreds of rape cases registered in the national Capital alone, trial of which
have been going on for months, years and even decades. Has anyone ever thought
about that? And why Delhi alone,
thousands of rape cases are going on in the lower courts of the country without
any logical conclusion. Why can’t the government or the higher judiciary decide
once and for all that a rape case has to be decided and judgment pronounced say
within 90 days of filing the charge sheet.
The fear of swift and certain punishment
clearly is an answer. Our law makers and higher judiciary will have to think
about it seriously. It is now or never. Also, wasn’t it time that changes
brought in the police system and it is made an autonomous institution, out of
control of the political bosses. In Delhi
gang rape case, there was the worst kind of verbal spat between the police
controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi
government headed by Sheila Dikshit. Even as the girl was fighting for her
life, she had to record her statement twice and both the police and the
politicians played to the gallery blaming each other for the fiasco. Nothing
could be more shameful.
In 2006, the Supreme Court had issued a series
of guidelines for police reforms. These have not been implemented yet. Instead
of being independent and autonomous, police continues to be a tool in the hands
of the respective state governments and in Delhi ,
the tool of the MHA. Why can’t the government take steps to professionalize it
and let go its control on it. The British had invented this system of policing
for a colonial India
and here we are, continuing with the system which the colonial master had
devised to strengthen and prolong their rule.
When the friend of the rape victim questions
the police theory and says that it was late in reaching the spot and police
officials were squabbling under whose jurisdiction the case came, a case is
lodged against the channel which shows the interview. You have to grow out of
this mindset. Ask any journalist who has seen the functioning of the Delhi
Police or a citizen who made a call to the PCR or reported a crime, you will
find similar response as the friend of the rape victim got. Professionalizing it
and taking it out of control of the political bosses, the way erstwhile
colonial masters, the British have done in their own country, is the answer not
knee-jerk reaction.
As the core issues of making the judiciary and
police accountable are difficult to implement, various state governments are
continuously making one popular announcement after the other. A minister in
Haryana says he wants death for rapists, the chief minister of Punjab
wants to recruits 5000 women constables, some leader wants to punish the
juvenile in Delhi gang rape as an
adult. Do not look for short cuts. Please address the issues of judicial and
police accountability. Populism would be short lived. Look for the long term
measures which can actually help prevent a crime as brutal and violent as the Delhi
gang rape. (January 7, 2012)
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