Solutions to rising crimes against women & children.

The recent report by Praja highlights what has been suspected all along that crimes against women & children are treated casually.. This explains the fact, that, more than 90% cases are pending trials in courts.

Hence, conviction is less than 40 % .The reasons can be many. One major reason is shortage of manpower or rather human power. The highest shortage is in forensic laboratories where its 40%, followed by public prosecutors where its 28% shortage. Next is the police, where shortage of personnel is 18% & in sessions courts, the shortage is 14% .Even the Supreme Court & High Courts have vacancies & it takes years to fill up the vacancies. Obviously, all this affects deliverance of justice .And ,when ,at the grassroot level, there are vacancies at sessions courts, & amongst the police, the public prosecutors, & in the forensic laboratories, women & children continue to suffer as their lives are marred by violence.

Even in cases that needed to be tried under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences ( POCSO) Act ,just about half of the cases have been tried in special courts as mandated under the POCSO  act. And only 44 out of a total 220 cases tried under POCSO reached the stage of judgement in 2019. In, 2020 , because of COVID, the situation has definitely worsened. All this will add to a huge backlog of cases in the future.

As per the National Judicial Data Grid ,the backlog of cases is a whooping 37.7 million ! This works out to 3.7 million cases pending for 10 years, Out of these 3.7 million cases, 2.8 million cases before the district courts & 0.92 million cases before the High Courts have remained pending. And that’s not all. Nearly, 6,60,000 cases have remained pending for more than two decades & another, 1,31,000 have remained unresolved for more than 30 years. All this adds to a huge economic cost. Moreover, delay in justice is as good as denial of justice.

Capital punishment or death penalty is an incorrect response to check crimes against women & children. Capital punishment is not a deterrent .It is an expensive process & since nearly 75 % of the accused on the death row are from the marginalised sections of society, it gets too exorbitant .And death penalty has not acted as a deterrent .If death penalty is the answer then murders should have stopped. And yet, murders continue. Capital punishment is like revenge & this has therefore no place in a civil society. And cases in which capital punishment is awarded take years to end. And this makes it a long & winding process. It is traumatic for the victim, their families & even for the accused & their families. .And where is the scope to correct if a person is given capital punishment & later its discovered that the accused who suffered the death penalty ,had not committed the alleged crime ?

Many states have brought in the death penalty in case of sexual assaults' of children below 12 years under POCSO. And the effect is ,that there are hardly any convictions. Because ,in most cases of sexual abuse of children , the accused   ( more than  90% ) are from the family and friends. And so the victim or survivor is pressurized to keep silent & not depose against the accused.

The pandemic has led to an exponential increase in cases of domestic violence .And even in such cases, it is  likely that the women who are the victims and survivors , will choose to remain silent .They would rather not speak up against their family members. So death penalty will make this complaining against family members nearly impossible.

Faster arrests , thorough investigation & fast tracking of cases  is needed to curb rising crimes against women & children. 

How can the pendency of cases involving women & kids be  brought down ? Obviously by decisions of the courts .And that can happen only when the courts function with full capacity. That means all vacancies need to be filled up. And this should include vacancies at the levels of judiciary, at the level of police , at the level of public prosecutors and also at the level of forensic laboratories. It's the entire gamut of the judicial system that needs to be covered.

Another step that needs to be taken is to fill up all the vacancies that exist across all the courts, from  the lowest till the highest levels. This will improve the judge to population ratio & help in brining down the backlog of cases. The Advocate General of India, Mr Venugopal recently told the Supreme Court that there is a lot of gender bias in the judiciary .He opined that as many as 50 % of judges need to be women to make it non biased.

A suggestion is to temporarily increase the number of lower courts by appointing willing law graduates as judges .Such temporary judges will be paid only salary .They will be ineligible for other benefits .And as soon as the backlog of cases end, these temporary  judges will be retired without any benefits. Of course, the most suitable of them can be absorbed into the judicial services after the requisite examinations & interviews & other relevant criteria. And mostly these temporary judges can be from women candidates. Even the courts which have to try POCSO cases can be headed majorly by women. Because women have a better understanding of children & their trauma. The temporary judges can try a majority of the cases dealing with women & children as women are better equipped to deal with such cases.

The Supreme Court guidelines as laid down in the Vishaka case  ( which dealt with sexual harassment at the workplace ) stated that the internal complaints committee in any organisation must be headed by  a woman .At least half of the members of this committee must be women. It follows therefore that women must have an equally importantly role to play in violent crimes affecting women & children

Similarly, other temporary posts can be created across the entire gamut of the criminal justice system whereby police personnel, the public prosecutors, the forensic team, can be majorly women. And these temporary posts can be ended once the pendency of cases gets back to manageable proportions. Here also, the most suitable ones can be absorbed into the permanent services through examinations, interviews & other relevant criteria. The Constitution of India allows reservation in favour of women & hence these judicial, police , public prosecution & forensic science jobs in favour of women are as per the Fundamental Right under Article 15 ( 3 ). 

Another  way to reduce the huge backlog of cases is to allow  the courts & other judicial & quasi judicial authorities to work in shifts.  In Maharashtra, the lower courts will be working in two shifts .And this, is indeed, the urgent need of the day. In fact, not just the lower courts, even the High Courts & Supreme Court need to work in shifts to clear the huge backlog of cases. If this happens, the backlog will end soon & then all courts can resume single shift working.

And as women get employed , the GDP of our country will rise by 27 % .Hence, employing women as judges, police personnel, public prosecutors & forensic scientists will be a WIN WIN situation for all !!! It will make the society safer for women & children as crimes are dealt with promptly & justice is delivered. Economy will improve & the backlog of cases will reduce.

And this is in accordance with India’s position on the international stage. India is signatory to the International Covenant on Civil & Political rights as also Convention for Elimination of Discrimination against Women .

And this pandemic has given us a chance to implement the aforesaid ideas ,  which can only lead us ahead in the direction of a better tomorrow !

Saving our kids .

This was published as Featured Post on Women's Web on 14th June , 2019.

Justice has been delivered in the Kathua gangrape case.And yet, the question that should agitate our minds, is why kids of such tender years are assaulted sexually & other wise.Perhaps, because kids are the most vulnerable after girls & women. And kids include both boys as also girls. More boys are sexually abused than girls as per statistics .And our society being patriarchal , we live in denial, that boys are raped & continue to be raped.And what begins as a sexual assault can slowly give away to sexual trafficking of kids which is apart of the $ 150 million illicit world wide trade which comes third after trade of small arms & drugs.

Thankfully, the POCSO ( The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences ) Act has been made gender neutral to tackle sexual abuse of boys & girls .And yet, the death penalty for the guilty in POCSO cases cannot stem the rot of sexual abuse of kids.

Recently , a 2 year old girl was found lifeless ,with her eyes gogged out in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.As usual, the matter was politicized .One of  accused, who was arrested has been facing two charges under POCSO & yet, he was roaming  freely to look around for potential victims & traumatize more kids.

Hence, there has been an  urgent need to have a database of sexual offenders  on  a pan India basis. This would  help in faster arrests & a better conviction rate. This in turn, would  assist  in assuring safety of kids. The idea of a national registry of sexual offenders is  by  activists like  Sunitha Krishnan of Prajwala. She also started a #ShametheRapistCampaign as she had received many gangrape videos .And she felt outraged, that people who filmed such videos & or  raped ought to be punished. She had approached Supreme Court with a plea that a national agency needs to deal with gangrape & rape videos which are being shared on various social media & the internet.

And all efforts by Sunitha Krishnan & other activists have yielded positive results.India has got a national registry of sex offenders . 

It has been shown time & again that most of the sexual crimes are committed by people known to the child.As per NCRB data of 2016 ,43.3 % % of rape victims are minors .13 % of minor rape victims are aged 11 & below.And NCRB data of 2016 reiterates that 94.6 % of offenders were known to the victims.So obviously, minors are being raped by people known to them. Though data is unavailable regarding percentage of offenders known to minor rape victims, obviously it must be above 75 % .This is also one of the main reasons why conviction rate is as dismal as 30 % because many a times, families want the shame to remain within the family. Nobody tries to understand how this  is going to traumatize the victim/ s who is/are  family member/s. as well. And this non reporting of sexual assault / s makes the offender more brazen about perpetuating similar or more violent assaults on others within the family & outside .

Rapes are very traumatic crimes that affect the mental as also the physical being of the victim and or survivors. And in India, its a social stigma as well.The victims & survivors have to face the blame that they asked for it by wearing clothes which were in appropriate or by being too bold in any what way. Rape is an act of power play & control..And if some of us say that dressing indecently ( what is indecent & what is decent, depends on how the viewer sees it ...it is therefore subjective & hence,  unfair & unjustified  ).Moreover, what I may feel is decent dressing, may be not so as per another person's viewpoint .If dressing made somebody commit rape , then how can rape of babies & old women as old as eighty be explained ? Gangrapes during communal flare ups & caste violence ? Can they be explained by skimpy dressing ? No, & definitely rape of minors cannot be explained by dressing sense. Specially, rape of minor boys can never be explained  , for those, who allege that females need to stay within limits & not behave like boys .Patriarchy is so entrenched, that the offenders roam freely after raping many, while the victims & survivors face the wrath of the society & the members of the society including anger from family & friends because the victim/s asked for it ( to be sexually assaulted ).

In a judgement delivered by Bombay High Court, the judges stated that rape is worse than murder because , it affects victims physically as also psychologically.And these affect the victim till the victim is alive. Hence, many of the victims tend to end their lives.

What needs to be done to prevent or lessen the number of rapes of minors ? Many steps need to be taken. Firstly, make sex education a part of school curriculum as has been done recently .Sex education will enlighten minors about the good touch,, the bad touch & the ugly ones. These will warn the minors about potential offenders.

Another step is sensitizing public about safety of children. .Its our duty as adults to create a safe environment for our children so that they grow up into fearless healthy adults.Minors who are raped suffer trauma on a  life long basis & they have lots of psychological issues as well.

Police needs to be sensitized to take faster action & thorough investigation in all cases relating to sexual assaults of minors .This will assist in increasing the conviction rate under the POCSO Act.

And last, but not the least, faster trials & speedy dispensation of justice will act as deterrent .Certainty of punishment is deterrent & not the death penalty. Death penalty is most inappropriate as death penalty has almost the same effect of deterrence as life imprisonment. as per 262nd  Indian Law Commission Report. Death penalty is a long & winding process .Death penalty is expensive. And sometimes , errors in judgement  lead to innocent people who are punished by death penalty.And the death penalty has been shown to be awarded to people who are from the minorities & scheduled castes & tribes .

 Kailash Satyarthi, the Nobel Peace Prize Winner  in a recent article on the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour , 12th June, 2019  talks about steps each of us ,must take, to reach the goal of a child friendly society .Because each time, we remain silent as we witness any injustice in whatsoever form regarding a  child, we let down  that child & ultimately  our future.

Because , as stated by Nelson Mandela, "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul  than the way in which it treats its children . "

Polygamy & Polyandry.

"29.3 cr wives,28.7 cr husbands : Census bares Polygamy truth " screamed the Times of India dated 3rd March,2015.

Polygamy is illegal in India as per the Indian Penal Code.In fact ,the Indian Penal Code talks of Bigamy ( having two wives ) & not polygamy ( many wives ) .

The latest census report  says that polygamy is rampant in India.. Of course,it omits taking into account, the many sitcoms wherein the hero and or the heroine or both and many more characters keep marrying at the drop of a hat.And in serials also ,no laws seem to have been breached.After all ,they are all set in India.So true to life ,the serials are ! 

Many will argue that since only one community is immune from polygamy in India, that community is rife with polygamous men.And this is not so.In fact, as per Wikipedia,polygamy is much more prevalent in communities where it is forbidden.Many celebrities have conveniently changed faith , got married second time, & sometimes many times & reconverted back to their own religion..The complainant in polygamy  cases has to  be the person who has been wronged.And since in majority of the cases,it is the wife,hardly any complaints are filed.Because wives are rarely financially independent & judicial process is too long drawn & tiring.

 And yes,men who marry more than once are celebrities in their own way as they have made lives of more than one woman miserable .Of course,their daughters,mothers,sisters are miserable but the degree of misery varies.

Polygamy is fatal for our nation .For that matter, any nation as it gives rise to one more evil...an exploding population .As if breeding with one wife is not enough,men need many more to breed.Sickening.Sadist attitudes.Perhaps,men believe that unless,they are able to impregnate women ,they will be considered unmanly.Moreover,they want to leave their imprint / s on the world.And whatever for ? Not just imprints,they want to leave clones.Meaning ,men want wives to produce baby boys.Hence,if first wife,produces girls,marry another and continue, till a male progeny is produced.

In mythology ,many rakshasas wanted to live forever.They would do penance for decades . When the Almighty was pleased,the rakshasas would invariably ask for the boon of immortality.

Since ,in present times,men  have little patience to woo the Almighty,   they opt for the easy way out..They  want to  leave behind a son /s  who will continue the tradition.The  legacy of marrying many women for the same reason as the father.And the vicious cycle continues.

Indians think no money is much, if used for  aborting  baby girls ,etal.And the added bonus is, when the woman who was pregnant dies  too, because of pregnancy related complications.This  gives the man another reason  to get another wife,.So ,the sex ratio keeps getting screwed exponentially in favour of boys .

And  polygamy is ironically set to lead to  polyandry .Polyandry is, when one woman is married to more than one man.As the number of girls goes down ,not all boys  will find girls to marry.And so, one girl will have to marry more than one boy.Why girls & not women & why boys & not men ? Because,when nonsense is done ,it is immature & nothing could be more stupid  than indulging in polygamy & very soon polyandry.And also because,in our nation ,many marraiges are decided at the time of birth & solemnised during childhood.Already conditions are so bad in states like Haryana & Punjab  , that girls are being imported from as far as Kerela ,north east as girls are missing in towns & villages of Haryana & Punjab All , thanks to female foeticide.Next stop is polyandry.Before that ,many stages of girls & women being abducted,gangraped ,sold for sex trade & all else is bound to happen .In fact ,India is one of the largest centre of International Sex trade & especially minor girls. .This leads to additional evils like AIDs,STDs,etc.And yet,women has never been a priority for anyone ,not family not society ,nor governments.

Majority of  dowry ,eve teasing,molestation ,rape cases go unreported because ,in our nation shaming the women is tradition.More so if she is the victim.She asked for it. She must undergo all torture  ,simply because she is the weaker sex.And police are insensitive to the plight of women.Faster arrests & quicker trials & convictions are the way out of this nightmare & not the death penalty.Because death penalty is a long drawn process & justice delayed is justice denied.This is so, as delay dilutes evidence & therefore, conviction.

The worst part is whatever it is - polyandry or polygamy,the victim remains the same...the girl and or the woman.This is no country for females.And last, but not the least,I recall what my law professor told me in law college ,"Those having more than one wife are the ones who will be declared  bankrupt , not persons like you & me ." Hence,these polygamous men would ask  Government for loans &  subsidises .Watch this space !

Fit to bobbitize.

The recent gang rape, of a girl in a moving bus, in Delhi, has ignited a  debate for the way to punish such offenders.The alternatives are death sentence,life imprisonment ,chemical castration & bobbitization.

Death penalty is an option though not suitable.It is costly -death penalty is rarely given.When given,the accused will go to all lengths, to procure a lesser sentence.This will delay punishment, thereby putting pressure on our already clogged Judicial system.The accused will approach High court,then Supreme Court & the President, for pardon.All this time ,the accused will be in custody, on the taxpayer's money.It is a colossal waste, that a felon /s  as barbaric as a rapist/s will be ensconced in jails, while the victim /s has died or is suffering physically & mentally as also  being   socially ostracised..And for demanding death penalty,more investigations,more defence lawyers,more bureaucracy is needed.It is too expensive an affair.Moreover, after the final refusal of the Presidential pardon ,getting hold of a hangman, is another task which is getting difficult if not impossible.Payment to the hangman, is also an issue After the hanging ,handing over of the body to his family is another matter to be dealt with .And the death penalty is too simple, a punishment, for an inhuman crime such as rape.

Life imprisonment is a big NO.No such criminal /s who have raped should be imprisoned for a lifetime. It is unfair for citizens, that their hard earned money is used to pay up for the judicial custody of rapists till the rapists are alive & kicking ! Our courts have started specifying life terms to more than 14 years .This is again, a drain on our  Exchequer.  There is no guarantee, that life imprisonment will continue for lifetime of the rapist/s .The accused may be let off earlier for good behavior or  medical or other grounds..Studies have shown, that a  majority of rapists will rape again when they move back into society.Medically unfit accused have all the ability & fitness to violate women.Our jails are overcrowded & minimally guarded.The accused rapists may rape others in the jails itself.This will lead to greater problems.Moreover ,the rapists may escape custody & be free to commit crimes again.

Chemical castration is an option being favoured as it costs Rs 2000/ per injection.Chemical castration is a therapy in which drugs are administered via injections to reduce libido.Studies have shown that while 3 % of sex offenders who are chemically castrated, will repeat rape/s as against 97 % of sex offenders who are imprisoned will rape again. And chemical castration is cheap- it costs nearly Rs 2000/- per shot.The problem with this punishment is that this shot has to be repeatedly administered.How will that be done ? Either the offender/s have to be monitored perennially or the offenders must be lodged in jail.In that case,the therapy does not work out cheap.If the offender/s are let off after the initial shots,how to give them the next shot/s ? Our police force is very  hassled & more  involved in protecting VIPs.Moreover ,locating offender/s in a highly populous country such as ours is tedious & costly.It will be a time consuming affair .Within that time ,it is highly possible that the accused would again commit rapes & other sexual crimes.

Bobbitization is the ideal punishment.Bobbitization is doing away with the penis of the offender/s. If the organ refuses to exist,there can be no repeat offence by the offender/s.Bobbitization is cutting off the penis.This term Bobbitization  gained notoriety after a housewife ,Lorena Bobbit severed her husband's penis in a fit of rage, after years of infidelity, in 1993.This happened in Virginia ,USA.

Bobbitization is a fitting finale, to an act as cruel as rape.It is cheap -can be done by anybody.No special training is needed.So no question of selecting candidates for being employed for bobbitization. Many will offer their valuable  services with their precious time to perform such noble tasks ! Good samaritans will  get their own instruments as well. A simple instrument or weapon like knife can be utilised to achieve bobbitization. After bobbitization ,the offender/s can be let off - he cannot commit rape again.So the expense of lodging in jails,monitoring ,etc is done away with  The offender can be bobbitised with an instrument which need not be disinfected.This will deter him & prevent others from such inhuman crimes.Moreover ,if the resultant infection is severe enough ,death will naturally follow.There are more positives for bobbitisation. A little brutality, will go a long way, to prevent & deter rapes, as compared to the brutality of rape/s visited on the victims.Moreover ,an offender can be bobbitised anywhere-so no establishment costs ! How come nobody thought of it before Lorena Bobbit ?

In India,one rape happens every 54 minutes as per the State of World Population report. Bobbitization will prevent as also deter such rapes.So many unwanted pregnancies result from rapes & gangrapes. Bobbitization will ensure that such pregnancies will reduce.This will, in turn, stabilsie if not reduce our high growth rate.The severed penises can be utilised for medical research.This may lead to mind boggling discoveries   of  therapies to make male libido virtually non -existent !

Bobbitization serves a dual purpose- it will deter potential offenders as also prevent repetition of rapes.This is what any punishment must aim at. Hence bobbitization, is the only punishment for the sexual offenders.It is infinitely better than chemical castration,death penalty & life imprisonment even in economic terms.It will be akin  to  family planning, with a twist !