People's Democracy

Editorial

 

Zero Tolerance towards Crimes against Women

 

 

THE most horrendous case of gang rape and the inhuman violent brutality in a moving bus in crowded areas of the country’s capital has shocked the conscience of the nation.  The victim continues to struggle for life in the hospital in a very critical condition.  An outraged people spontaneously rose in condemnation all across the country.  This was echoed in both houses of parliament when they rose as one woman forcing the union home minister to assure prompt action against the culprits and strengthen the law and order apparatus in the capital which comes directly under the charge of the union home ministry.  Such assurances, however, invoke little confidence. 

 

The reason for this is that this latest incident is not an isolated one.  Sexual crimes against women have been rising alarmingly all across the country.  In Delhi’s neighbourhood, Haryana, the recent period saw a spate of 15 ghastly rapes, mostly gang rapes.  Amritsar recently saw a police officer being murdered while he was trying to protect his daughter from sexual harassment.  The latest statistics compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau show that between 1953 and 2011, the incidents of rape rose by 873 per cent or three times faster than all cognizable crimes put together and three and a half times faster than murder.  During the last five years, between 2007 and 2011, incidents of rape increased by 9.7 per cent. 

 

Some weeks ago, The Guardian noted: “Of all the G-20 nations, India has been labeled as the worst place to be a woman”.  In a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters’ Trust Law Women, a hub of information and support for women’s rights, India ranks with Afghanistan, Congo and Somalia as one of the most dangerous places for women. In India, across the country, on average, one woman is kidnapped and raped every forty minutes.

 

Amongst the metros in the country, shamefully Delhi tops the list of incidents of rape. Between 2007 and 2011, Delhi witnessed 2620 rapes where cases were registered.  Compared to this, Mumbai had 1033, Bangalore 383, Chennai 293 and Kolkata 200 cases. 

 

Worse is the fact that in three of the four cases of rape, the culprits went unpunished between 2002 and 2011 in Delhi.  Out of the 5337 rape cases during the last decade (2002-2012), in 3860 the culprits were either acquitted or discharged by courts for lack of `proper’ evidence.  The conviction rate for the country as a whole, on the average, between 2001 and 2010, in rape cases was 26 per cent only. This is significantly lower than the conviction rate for murder (35 per cent).  Far from fearing a deterrent punishment, the criminals are not afraid of the law any longer, it appears, because of such abysmal record of delivery of justice in the country.   Home secretary RK Singh did concede a few months ago that it was time to “stop talking about law and order and start talking about delivery of justice”.  “If somebody in his mid-40s murders somebody, he is most likely to die a free man”, the home secretary had said. 

India does not even have enough judges to expeditiously try those investigated. In 1987, the Law Commission drew a blueprint to raise the judge-population ratio from 1.05 judges for every lakh population to five judges within five years. But 25 years later, the ratio is still 1.4 judges per lakh population. 

 

Given this, the recent intervention by the Supreme Court in instructing the state governments to take measures to protect women, such as deploying women police officers in plain clothes, installing closed circuit cameras and setting up help lines, sounds most unconvincing.  The apex court had observed that “The experiences of women and girls in crowded buses, metros, trains etc are horrendous and a painful ordeal”.  Universally in every state in India and for the country as a whole, the ratio of policemen to population is one of the lowest in the world.  Unless steps are taken to largely augment the law enforcement authorities with adequately trained personnel, the situation cannot improve.  It is no wonder that in 2011, no investigation was done in 36.6 per cent of the recorded instances of rape. 

 

The CPI(M) had recently conducted a nationwide campaign on the growing instances of sexual violence and atrocities against women.  This campaign had demanded the following:  1) Speedy passage of the Bill for the Prevention of Sexual Assault in the Workplace, with amendments suggested by the CPI(M) members of parliament. 2) Setting up of fast track courts to provide speedy justice in rape and all other cases of sexual harassment and domestic violence. 3) Time bound action plan by all state governments to deal with pending cases of crimes against women. 4) Preventive measures by the central and state governments to stem the increase in the rates of crimes against women. 5) Accountability of and punishment to the police officials guilty of delaying the filing of an FIR. 6) Punishment to those providing political and social protection to the accused.

 

After noting that India is the worst place to be a woman, The Guardian posed a question: “But how is this possible in a country that prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy?”  It is possible because our law enforcement and justice delivery systems are in shambles.  It is imperative that special courts be set up to deliver fast track punishment to the perpetrators of such inhuman crimes against women. Further, the punishment should be such that it acts as a deterrent instilling a sense of fear that crimes against women will not be tolerated by the people and the authorities of our country. This recent ghastly incident must shake us out of stupor and ensure that India displays zero tolerance towards crimes against women. 

(December 19, 2012)