MOST SHAMELESS THING
Dr K Prabhakar Rao
Delhi at Vijay Chowk has
witnessed the public anger after the recent criminal assault on a woman passenger
in a bus during the night by a gang of rowdies. The woman
is admitted to a hospital where she is battling for life. She has been
bold. The police of Delhi
claim that they arrested the culprits at different places. After seeing the anger among youth, political parties too
joined the chorus for very severe
punishments and demanded death penalty
for such offenses. We have to see what this
govt can do at this stage. This nation has taken years to hang Kasab and
another criminal Afzal Guru is being fed
chicken and ice cream in jails although he is to be hanged. No one knows how
long he will be kept like this. The nation apparently has no commitment to law
and order. In fact Delhi has earned notorious
name as the crime capital in India
particularly against women. Some time
ago a foreigner woman was sexually assaulted in Delhi. Many years ago Billa and Ranga created
sensation in Delhi
when the school going daughtrer of a Naval officer was raped after assaulting her brother and both were
killed later. Bapu Jagjivan ram was the Defense minister at that time. This was
long ago. But the incident stirred the
nation. But as usual the govt slept.
Such issues are forgotten. It forgot about the safety of the women in the
country and particularly right in Delhi
where a woman is the chief administrator of the state. Whenever such incidents take place the leaders who are
at the helm of affairs appeal to people
to maintain peace and remain calm and that they would make law stringent soon.
However no concrete actions take place. Soon things are forgotten and Indian
law which is weak bolsters courage among the criminals.
The
saddest part is that many of our political leaders themselves are criminals.
What we can expect from such stalwarts. In this particular case, the police of Delhi failed to detect crime that was likely
to take place and thus crime was committed. Now no action can bring back the
honor of the woman. It is not easy to give death penalty in this
case to the criminals as the law does not cater for it as murder did not take
place. Some time ago a man from Bengal was hanged for the rape and murder of a girl. The
men involved in the present crime were drivers, cleaners and rowdy associates.
They have no honor for themselves and lead ruffian lives. Such men are danger to the society and such
people would be many in this land at
every place. It is for the police to keep a track on such people throughout the
country. Is it possible? Death penalty is a deterrent in such offenses. There
has been article in news paper by a woman rights lawyer ( woman) and she states that death penalty is not the
answer. Please read her own concluding words ( 1):-
“In India Rape does
not attract capital punishment and even if the law is changed, it can not be
applied retroactively to this case.Further if punishment for rape and murder is
same, many rapists may kill the victim to destroy evidence. Thus we need more
soulsearching answers from our parliamnetarians and experts about how we can make our public places safe for our
women.”
The lawyer claims that the rapists could
kill the victims after committing crime to erase evidence. This may not happen
all the time and the victim could escape
after the crime. Her argument is surely not sound. By making the punishment
lenient as at present, the rapists are
getting bold and are committing such crimes.
In many cases, the criminals get Scot
free for the lack of evidence. There is no doubt that death penalty has to be imposed for the crime
of rape.There is no second thought about this.
The govt after the crime as per
the news paper report attributed to Home minister Shinde stated that centre would make amendments to criminal laws
to seek a effective punishment in
the rarest of rare cases of sexual
assault including rape. The point to
note is what is rarest of rare case of rape (2). Rape is after all a rape. There is nothing like
rarest and rare and normal. Should we feel amused at such statements by the
home minister? The courts also give lesser punishments if the offenders are
young men and in this case the offenders are young persons. It is likely that
these offenders get away with lesser punishments.
The uproar of youth in Delhi was heard at Vijay Chowk on 22 Dec, 2012 after the incident.
Shamefully the police of Delhi
over reacted and used water cannons and
made lathi charge on the
gathering. Many women and young men were badly hurt. It is the most shameful thing by the police
to indulge in violence against the youth are protesting about a genuine
incident demanding justice to the victim.In fcat Delhi police is known for over
reaction. Ramdeva Babas incident at Delhi some time ago
speaks about them. They should have shown great
restraint in this case. They behaved as if they will not get a chance like this to wield lathis and
get training on use of water cannons.Does it mean that the law enforcing agencies are not concerned about
such heinous crime. Do they not belong to the same society? Are their women safe while they are on duty
dispersing people who are fighting to
stop such crimes. How shameful indeed.The govt looks on pathetically.
The govt should immediately order inquiry to the incidents of use of excessive force at Vijay Chowk and
punish the erring police officers who had given such orders for lathi charge
and use of water cannons against the
youth. Can we expect from this govt. Let us Wait and see. Hope this case
will not be forgotten like many cases of past including the various scams that
are diluted day by day..
Bibilography.
1. Flavia Agnes, Rape and Death, Deccan Chronicle,Hyderabad, Sunday 23, 2012, PP 10
2. DC Corrspondent, Rape rage in Delhi,
Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad,
Sunday 23, 2012, PP1
No comments:
Post a Comment