Castration not the answer to curb sexual violence against women, children

Mangalore Today News Network

Chennai, Oct 28, 2015:  The recent comments of Justice Kirubakaran, Madras High Court, that child sexual abusers must be castrated has come in for sharp criticism in the media. Reacting to the recent spate of child rapes in Delhi which horrified the nation, the judge, in a proactive manner, commented that the traditional law is not stringent enough to act as a deterrent. Though the suggestion may appear barbaric, according to him, this is the only way the menace can be curbed. With all his wisdom, the Justice could not be further away from the truth!

 

Commenting on the present reality, the judge himself stated that while the incidents of child rape have increased 400 per cent, the conviction rates are dismal – a mere 2.4 per cent. So how will castration help? One was wondering whether the Justice was suggesting that as soon as a rapist is arrested, he should be castrated at the police station itself, because by the time the trial and appeals reach a finality, the accused may not even need to undergo this drastic measure!

According to him even the stringent provisions of the recently enacted Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act have failed to act as a deterrent. He needs to look inwards as to why the law has failed.

On the other hand, trying to gain political mileage from these barbaric incidents, Mr Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, has tried to embarrass the NDA government and has demanded that the reigns of Delhi should be handed over to him for maintaining better law and order. He has also demanded that even minors who are convicted of rape should be treated as adults.

However, this is not the not the first time, we have heard such knee-jerk comments from our politicians and judges. Mr LK Advani made similar comments when he was the deputy prime minister. Judge SM Agarwal, a sessions judge in Delhi during the eighties, also made a similar sensational comment in 1984 and again in 1990. Justice Tulzarpurkar, a judge of the Supreme Court during the early 1980s demanded that rapists be publicly flogged.

Fortunately for us, the judges are not law makers and the politicians who make such irrational suggestions are reigned in by their own parties and the law making process is long drawn and subject to judicial scrutiny as we have seen in the recent full bench decision of the Supreme Court in the NJAC matter.

While it is easy to get momentary fame by making such sensational comments, these comments only show that the judges are not aware of the ground reality. The NCRB reports state that 91 per cent of the accused are known to the victim. Incidents of family rape are very high as other studies have shown. Cases of fathers and step-fathers raping young children in their care are as high as stranger rapes. Further, while such abuse is rampant, only an isolated incident comes to light as most cases are hidden behind closed doors.

Rather than responding to such sensational comments, it would be better if we respond to recent comments from experts such as Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the comments by the editor of the reputed British Journal Lancet which are more relevant and revealing. They have brought out the close link between health and violence and highlighted that in homes where women face domestic violence, there is a greater risk of the child being sexually abused. Both have lamented over the facts that there are no recent studies regarding the extent of sexual and domestic violence. The last National Family Health survey III, which is relied upon by researchers, was in 2005-06. Both have hinted that these figures are inadequate as incidents of violence have escalated since then and in order to evolve policies and programmes, we first need to realistically assess the problem at hand.

More important, these studies highlight the need to develop a viable victim support programme and for measures for empowering women and children. We must understand the general vulnerabilities of our young children who are raped. The legal case only serves to push them several notches down the social ladder from where they were when the incident occurred. The aim has to be to empower these children and provide them a safe environment to grow up and to ensure that they do not face secondary victimization through our legal system.

Another important area is to teach our men and boys to respect women in their homes so as to learn to respect women outside their homes.

Castration is not an answer to curb the escalating violence against women and children. Evolve long terms measures of victim support.

 

 

Courtesy: Indianexpress