E-Paper
Defining the law
The Indian Penal Code may soon discard its rather naive perception of what constitutes ?rape?, if a Bill being drafted by the Home Ministry gets the parliamentary go-ahead.
The Indian Penal Code may soon discard its rather naive perception of what constitutes ‘rape’, if a Bill being drafted by the Home Ministry gets the parliamentary go-ahead. A law that does not even take note of forced anal and oral sex as an offence is undeniably inept in a climate where a crime against women is estimated to take place every three minutes, and a rape every half-hour. The government’s proposed move to thus fill legal lacunae and define and specify punishment for these, as well as marital rape, will tremendously strengthen legislation on sexual assault. The draft Bill reportedly also proposes to make punishment for rape more stringent. This move stems from the realisation that sexual assault against women, especially rape, has been rising unchecked for the past few years.
Yet, these amendments will be of little use unless convictions in such cases -- the only true deterrent -- actually take place with some despatch. The consequences of a low conviction rate in rape cases is visible in the increasing number of cases that are being reported every year. The crime figures released by National Crime Record Bureau for the year 2004 show a 15 per cent jump from 2003. This, despite the large number of victims who don’t report rape for fear of social stigma and family pressure (offenders being known to victims in 86 per cent of cases). The compensation package offered by the government for rape victims, irrespective of conviction, may have been designed to encourage more victims of sexual assault to report the crime. Yet, it is also an indirect acknowledgement of the failure of the justice delivery mechanism -- to punish sexual offenders.
As such, the proposed amendments can never make up for weak police investigation, indifferent prosecution and slow trials. Thorough investigation and speedy trials are the only way to show that the police and the State are serious about curbing sexual crimes.
