Another rape and murder from Hathras village in Uttar Pradesh has made headlines pan India. Few other incidents that caught the attention were in 2012 in Delhi, 2017 at Unnao, 2019-Hyderabad. Though only a handful of cases end up rattling the country, many go unnoticed. 87 rape cases per day were recorded in India in 2019,
according to the official data and in 93% cases, the perpetrators were known to the victim. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Women are always victims of impish behaviour. The four convicts of 2012 Delhi rape case wanted to teach the girl a 'lesson' for allegedly cuddling her friend late at night. The laws against rape in India are one of the harshest in the world, but the problem lies in their implementation. The lackadaisical approach by those on duty allows the perpetrators to find caveats to slide out of the accusations.
Since the number of victims gathering courage and registering offence are only a handful, at this juncture, if the law enforcement officers are trained on how to deal with the victims of sexual abuse or assault,
there will be increased reporting of such incidents.
The society has to be more humane and benevolent towards those vulnerable. All this also leads us to one important question: if the 'death sentence' to the 4 rapists of 2012 Delhi rape-murder was meant to counteract such crimes, then the validity of this death penalty should be reconsidered.
RAGHAV GADGIL, Khandola
