In recent years, India's features have been ruled by instances of sexual violence, assault, and rapes against women. What's more, with these cases has come the normal refrain: 'Hang the rapist'. During these occasions, even parliament gets the chance to hear this motto, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. With the massive escalation in instances of rapes on women every year, the question of whether capital punishment has added to the deterrent in the rapes against women, and is really the 'justice' that one looks for, stays obscure.
The question to strike our mind ought to be if death penalty is actually the appropriate answer? The answer to sabotage a woman's integrity, the answer to grab power over a female body as well as her life, the answer to ruin not only physical but also the mental existence of a person. Many leading feminists and Women activists have been contending for quite a long time that it isn't. The death penalty for a crime as heinous as raping a fellow being does no justice and this punishment should not even be on the table. Here are some reasons for all the "Whys"
- Death Penalty does not add to the deterrent of the crime:
For felonies of various types over the world, no one has had the option to definitively say that capital punishment or the death penalty is a successful impediment. It seems like the need for capital punishment is more a result of the angst and frustration of the masses than of genuine ideas on what can change the overall circumstance and reduce crime rate. Governments that need to present themselves like they 'pummel rapes' rush to react to these mob afflicted suggestions and invest wholeheartedly to ask for death penalty judgments with pride.
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Particularly in nations like India, where the assurance of discipline is moderately low and the legal battle is harder on the victim than on the accused (prompting them pulling back the case), basically changing the quantum of discipline in a couple of popularly reported rape cases is probably not going to dissuade others, as most cases either mope in the courts for years or are excused because of the absence of evidence.
Indeed, even the Justice J.S. Verma Committee, set up after the 2012 Jyoti Singh rape followed by murder, didn't think adding capital punishment to assault cases was an approach to make India more secure for the female population of the country.
- Fall in the number of reported cases
In countless assault cases (94.6% of cases in 2016, for example, as indicated by the National Crime Records Bureau), the accused is known to the victim. Given that situation – let's presume that the accused is an uncle of the victim – who now, after committing the crime is under the radar of getting a death penalty or in legal terms a capital punishment. The victim who has already gone through a tremendous amount of mutiny would not want herself to land into a situation of familial pressure or a situation where they end up distorting other innocent lives of the family of accused, due to which the case goes unreported.
- More odds of murder/ increased brutality
Once it is concluded that death penalty is the only punishment to the gruesome act of raping somebody, it may, in reality, have the contrary impact– rather than acting as an impediment, it could prompt culprits to ensure that the victims are left dead or in no state to report the crime or identify the culprits. In case, a death sentence turns into a standardized punishment for assaults or rapes, the frequency of woman slaughter will raise as each attacker will try to snuff out his victim– which adds nothing to diminishing the crime of rape itself. This is one among other unintended, unwanted results of such a point of reference. Although, Mulayam Singh Yadav's obtuse and casual remark about how boys being boys can commit such mistakes for which they shouldn't be hanged needs to be kept in mind at all times. Yet his interest in not giving death penalty for rape may really be the only reasonable thought in his statement, regardless of it being supported by him for all wrong reasons.
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- There is no accord among judges
In the 20 years somewhere in the range of 2000 and 2020, 30% of capital punishments granted by preliminary courts finished in acquittals (and not simply reduced sentences) when bidding in higher courts. Another 65% of cases saw the death penalty being driven away. With this degree of vulnerability on what the right punishment is – and whether the accused is even guilty of the crime, they are charged for– sending individuals to the hangman's tree can have some serious consequences. And all these differences are because of the difference in ideologies of the authorities.
After all- United we stand, divided we (the legal system) fall.
- Equating rapes with death
The rationale behind contending for the death penalty for culprits of rape is that the crime they committed is identical to death. Sushma Swaraj notoriously alluded to Jyoti Singh as a 'Zinda lash', or living corpse while she and her doctors were fighting for her to live. Terms like 'living corpse' have now made their way into an open discussion to depict a rape victim by well renowned and benevolent individuals despite these words being profoundly hostile to the individuals who have been raped.
Women's activists have come out unequivocally against that thought, which is connected to the possibility that a woman's' 'respect' – which is linked to her sexuality – is the thing that makes her life worth living. The underpinned thought behind these notions gives off the impression that being raped is equivalent to being dead, and the life of an individual who has been raped has lost all her worth.
Respecting individuals, explicitly women, by their sexual history and paying little attention to their consent is actually what male-centric thought or in other words "patriarchy" is about. Patriarchy being a part of the world since forever has now managed to adulterate the law.
The idea of equating rape with death is what patriarchy has introduced into the society and seeing the whole picture from this point of view is what we are taught to believe in, while remembering that Indian culture is profoundly male-centric, it isn't hard to comprehend why the death penalty is even being talked about in cases of barbarous rape incidents and are often viewed as something to be thankful for. A victim is expected to be thankful to a general public that fails to respect a woman who has been raped or assaulted is a society we live in. We live in a society where the victim's life eventually becomes all about an uninformed angry mob cheering for a death penalty for their assaulter.
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CONCLUSION
At the point when we read about assault cases occurring in the nation, we are loaded up with sentiments of detest and frustration. An individual requesting capital punishment for an attacker isn't just loathing the sinner but also fanning the notion of patriarchy in young minds in all ways possible.
The rationale of granting death penalties to rapists just because we think that rape is a fate worse than death is what needs to stop. Male centric ideas of 'respect' that declare rape as the most awful thing that can happen to a woman are what needs to stop. The generalization of a woman being "ruined" after being raped, declaring her unworthy of respect in the society after she's been explicitly attacked is what needs to stop. A quick Knee-jerk reaction demanding harsher punishments for rape is patriarchal in principle and harmful in practice and this is what needs to be stopped.
What needs to be inculcated in the minds of the masses is that even horrendous crimes, a woman's dignity is hers alone. If pride is lost, it is that of her rapists and not the victim. The victim’s identity does not need to be kept a secret anymore, not as a sign of being rebellious to the society but because the general public doesn't think of it as a disgrace to be a victim of a rape incident. Before prosecuting the assaulter for any sentence, this needs to be kept in mind that killing a couple of men; be it a legal death sentence or a police encounter, will definitively not influence the gruesome men oppressive belief systems where men are in power and women are taught "their place", instead it will fortify it significantly more.
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About Author
I am a compassionate doctor and a passionate writer who believe that words are the best alternative to express oneself. As a writer I am a free bird and I write what I feel and stand for it undisputedly and I firmly believe that an igniting voice is the basic requirement in order to inculcate even tiny bit of a change in a personal or public perspective. And those who can voice their opinions are living their life ideally. Afterall life should be about living and not just existing.
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