Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
Author :- Meet Ramaiya
Introduction –
‘Rape’ is definitely an inhuman act which is considered as offence in law. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 1860 for the first time notified under Section 375 of the IPC that such act will be punishable. Rape is defined as ‘the act of sex by a man with a woman if it was done against her will or without her consent. The definition of rape also included sex when her consent has been obtained by putting her or any person in whom she is interested, in fear of death or of hurt. Also, sex with or without her consent, when she is under 18 years is considered rape. However, under the exception, sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape. Which clearly indicate that Rape law in India are not gender neutral as definition implies sexual act by men to women which clearly neglects the fact that if men or member of LBGT get raped, that person cannot take remedy provided in section 375 of IPC.
Loopholes in law –
1 – There was a ‘Question of law’ in one of the case presented before honourable Supreme Court where facts of the case was as such where rape was committed with a women by her Father-in-law with help of her Mother-in-law as she was holding victims leg and was supporting accused in crime but unfortunately due to loop in law that women was not held liable for crime as definition state that ‘wrong committed by men.’ And yet there are no major amendments against rape in our books and yes this loops are reason one of the reason delayed judgement.
2 – We all are aware of Custodial Death of Father-Son Duo recently in June 2020 at Tamil Nadu which Sparks Massive Outrage, Protests across Country but social media is completely flooded with ‘Justice for Jeyaraj and Fenix’. Surprisingly, inhuman act face by them is not covered under definition and hence the police officer involved in crime will get punishment under other act but not rape as victim is man and same happens with LBGT community people. This is peak time to amend our laws.
Strength of Unity –
If the people of the country took the step like they took for banning the Tik – Tok then the country will be rape free. Yes! As you all know there was a storm of Tiktokers v. You tubers as tiktokers because unacceptable content shown such as Animal Abuse, Promoting Terrorism, Acid Attacks on women, Porn and so on and monitoring such large amount of vulgar content streaming on the platform and censoring them is definitely not practical. But on 16th day June, 2020 when Twenty Indian personnel of Indian Army, were killed in violent clashes with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, countrymen wanted to give befitting reply. Considering all this in mind Government of India took the decision of banning Chinese app and other 58 Chinese apps. As government have took a great step on banning the 59 apps likewise government should keep in mind that there are also many rapes carried out around the country and the rapists aren’t punished because accuse of rape doesn’t get proved easily and if accuse get convicted punishment aren’t strict or any of the influenced powerful person or party take stand for them and saves them by manipulating evidence. In incident of ‘Rarest of rare case’ a convict may get death penalty but this laws implication is restricted to books only and for victims and their family member who fighting for justice in order to get justice, this process is hardship to them for sure. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2018 annual report, 33,356 rape cases were reported across India in 2018 and there must be ‘n’ number of unreported case as well.
Hence, they aren’t afraid of committing rape as there is lack of fear in mind of rapist, indeed there are loopholes in Law whereby justice is delayed, we all have witnessed how Nirbhaya’s mother fought for justice from 2012 and accused got punishment on 20th March, 2020. It took 8 years for a mother to get justice where evidence was highly evident. Imagine the scenario where there may be lack of evidence and how difficult that get but No gender or member of LBGT committee shall file false rape case out of responsibility and sense of sensitivity towards this heinous crime so victims can get justice.
Extent of punishment in rape cases except for rarest of rare case under Section 376 –
Except in certain aggravated situations the punishment will be imprisonment not less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine. In aggravated situations, punishment will be rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
Rarest of rare cases –
The Doctrine of Rarest of Rare was established in the case of Bacchan v. State of Punjab. The Supreme Court, in this case, endeavoured to cut out a doctrine particularly for offences culpable with death to decrease the ambiguity for courts regarding when to go for the highest punishment of the land. It was laid down that death penalty must be surrounded only in the rarest of rare cases.
What is a Rarest of Rare case? In the Macchi Singh case, the court laid down certain criteria for assessing when a case could fall under the ambit of rarest of rare whereby ‘Death Penalty’ to rapist can be pronounced.
There are criteria based on which the case can be termed as rarest of rare case and they are defined in IPC, but in a nutshell it can be understood that if offense of rape is accompanied by any of the mentioned five clauses then accused can get rigorous punishment.
Five Factor considered to identify nature of crime are –
1. Manner of commission of murder.
2. Motive for the commission of murder.
3. Socially abhorrent nature of the crime.
4. Magnitude of the crime.
5. Personality of victim of murder.
Above mentioned grounds will help judge to reach conclusion.
In layman’s language, inclusion of such clause in name of rarest of rare case can be understood as this are those exceptional cases whereby normal punishment under Section 376 will not awarded but more stringent punishment shall get pronounced for such heinous crime.
Youths of the nation are looking at the framer of law with eyes of hope for getting speedy redressal and less embarrassment
What can be done?
Government of India and our honourable Prime Minister should take a look into this matter and make a strict laws for someone who carries out rapes and ease the process and shall set deadline for speedy trials so judgement can be pronounced at earliest. And this is not possible without our contribution as strong unanimous unity of countrymen on social media can do a lot then why not use this for bringing change. If People start seeing Accused of rape with hatred the way people were seeing Tiktokers and make victims feel safe and not blaming them for such mishap this country will be free from rape and one day the whole world and then we can proudly say that our Mother, Sister, Girlfriends, Friends (irrespective of gender) can attain true freedom and sense of security to walk on roads in midnights also.
My Dream –
Sexual intercourse without consent by any living person to another living person is wrong and amounts to rape. If we stop accepting the accused in our society, they will fear before committing such heinous crime. Many Human Right activist appose Capital Punishment but looking at the cruelty committed by rapist, it can be stated that capital punishment is something what they deserve and Rights of Victims shall get more privilege over Rights of accused person.
“My purpose of writing this blog is to knock your door once and say ‘Say No to Rapist’”
