DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE: SAHELI OPEN LETTER

DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE:

AN OPEN LETTER FROM SAHELI

Newsletter Sep – Dec 2002

As a women's group working on many issues including violence against women, we are extremely distressed by the manner in which the Home Minister and MPs of some political parties have once again been promoting death penalty as a solution to the problem of sexual violence on women.

As admitted by Mr Advani himself, when the issue was debated in 1998, he had advocated death penalty for rapists but women organisations had by consensus turned it down on a number of grounds. Has Mr Advani bothered to ponder over the reasons as to why women's groups did not favour it? After the spate of gruesome rape cases in Delhi, though such cases have been occurring all over the country, even the media has highlighted the fact that the conviction rate in rape cases is an abysmal 4%. Has Mr Advani cared to find out why it is so?

Women activists and lawyers have repeatedly asserted that capital punishment for rape is no answer when women who are raped have to endure a cumbersome and traumatic process of prosecution, face hostile police, defence lawyers and judges, and be subject to humiliating and insensitive questioning in the presence of men and the rapists in courts. Moreover, loopholes in the procedures most often work to the benefit of the accused, long drawn trials compel the victim to live with the trauma for years. Not to mention the commonplace collusion of police and the investigating authorities with the culprits.

In case after case, we have seen that it is not the lack of sufficient deterrence in the form of stringent punishment like death sentence, but the manner in which the legal and judicial systems work to ‘safeguard’ the rapist instead of the victim. In addition of course, is the fact that given social prejudices which compel the women to live a life of shame instead of the rapist. We ask the Home Minister to find out the reasons given in various judgements for granting acquittals or for giving very insignificant punishments and then make his decisions instead of trying to make political gain through dangerous populist statements.

Capital punishment is nothing but cold-blooded execution by the State, legitimised by law. Arguing against capital punishment for rape in no way implies leniency towards rapists. Rape is a heinous crime that must be severely punished. A swift, effective and sensitive legal system is likely to be the most effective deterrent.