Sunday, December 30, 2012


Honourable Justice Verma!

Greetings! 
                                                           
Sir, more than harsher punishment, it is  credible and  timely punishment which can curb this menace by instilling fear in the minds of miscreants.For example, punishment for corruption in China is death penalty but still corruption is rampant in china. In other words, more than death penalty, the cause shall be served by effective implementation of laws  and timely judicial process. My suggestions regarding amendment in criminal laws pertaining to rape are

1)     Death penalty should be imposed for the  following categories of Rape
1.     Rape with children (as it has far reaching pscyholgical consequences)
2.     Rape with old women
3.     Rape with psychologically unwell women
4.     Gang rape, specially preplannned ones eg.those intended to settle caste/political scores like  the infamous Bhanwari Devi case of 1992 (vishaka guidelines)
5.     Rape by Policemen
2)     Death penalty should NOT be imposed on other ‘less heinous’ cases because
1.     Rape is a crime which can occur on the spur of the moment (analogous to cold blooded and hot blooded murders)
2.      Provision of death penalty can be easily misused, eg. By  women for revenge after consensual sex ; by police by filing bogus cases against innocent persons. The superintendent of police of my district in a recent interview informed that almost half of the present alleged rape cases are bogus

My other suggestions are

1)     separate Fast track courts for dealing with cases relating to sexual violence
2)     Time bound implementation of judicial and police formalities like filing of charge sheet etc
3)     Provision of free psychiatiric assistance to the victim. Psychological Diseases like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are very common amongst victims
4)     Compulsory gender sensitivity training to policemen, all organized sector employees (Govt and Private firms) and students
5)     Making candidates Ineligble for contexting any level of  elections (from Panchayat level to Parliament) if found guilty  in any case related to sexual misconduct
6)     Stricter punishment for  legislators and other govt officials found guilty of molestation charges