A rape that shook the nation!

A 23-year-old female paramedical student was gang-raped and tortured in a moving bus on 16 Dec 2012- Sunday- night.  Even after a week, as per medical report, her situation is still very critical. Because due to extreme brutality almost all portion of her intestine is not existent now.  

She has already undergone through five surgeries.

We do not have words to describe our anguish and frustration. There are no two words that the perpetrators should be given exemplary punishment. Despite being a votary of Gandhi I can not agree more with the people who demand public hanging of such animals.

75% of the rape cases- reported- in India do not result in conviction! When a sensitive case like rape or outraging the modesty of a woman drags on for more than a decade, what else you expect?

So, introduction of one more draconian law would not make much difference. Besides that; do we need draconian legislation, which would again be misused by the mischievous crooks, at the first place? Appropriate amendments to the existing laws would just do fine,

We know, for a fact, in the past very respectable people are slapped with frivolous attempted rape cases to assassinate their character. So this bogey of death penalty for rape is nothing but cheap politics. I can not agree more with Ms Girija Vyas here, when she says; then, such raped women would also be murdered. The party whose senior members obliquely support the practice of Sati would obviously turn a Nelson’s eye to such a possibility. So the amendment to bring in capital punishment only in case of rarest of the rare cases with appropriate caveats would advance the cause of justice, while not keeping it’s flanks open for misuse.

Very often the victim is further victimized by societal pressure. However, just because a woman gets raped, she should not be killed either by the rapist, a Khap panchayat or her relations. Neither should she commit suicide or be encouraged to commit suicide. What should happen in a civilized country is: the perpetrators of such crimes should be brought to justice and in extreme cases- like the present one- the culprits should be given exemplary punishment. The society – as a whole- should reach out to help the victim to move on with as much normalcy as possible.

Change is in the air:

The government has already promulgated an ordinance to bring in death penalty for rape in rarest of the rare cases (like the present one). I tend to support the demand for a special session of the Parliament to expedite that.

What is more, now instead of dissipating the movement – for justice- the movement should take a more definite shape by making the demands more specific.

Punish Ram Singh by 26 January:

What is the need of the hour is: certainty of punishment to the wrong doers and that too within an acceptable time line. So, to facilitate the above the following 6 point plan should be adhered to:

1-   Demand the hanging of the prime accused Ram Singh – not all 7-by 26 January 2013.

2-   For the above to happen, retrospective amendment to relevant statutes to include death penalty for rape in rarest of the rare cases should be brought in.

3-   The passing of an ordnance is one route to facilitate the above but a better one would be passing the above the both the houses of the parliament. So that calls for a special session- immediately.

4-   Trial on a daily basis in a special fast track court is required to do justice with in 35 days.

5-   The pressure should be kept on by continuous protest marches and demonstrations- as it happened in case of Jessica Lal murder case- till justice is delivered. The catch is: we’ve to keep those absolutely peaceful, even when the police and administration provokes for violence.

6-   Then, all other accused persons should also be brought to justice by 15 August 2013.

Though that’s a tall order, its doable and the public mood just underscores that. Any takers for this line of thought?