WHAT DOES RAPE DESERVE

With the passage of time claiming from equality to security is the utmost concern for most of the women throughout this world. Rape is considered to be one of the heinous crime in any country, of all the crimes committed against a person rape is the one that leaves a person feeling the most violated. The psychological consequences of sexual trauma includes acute stress reactions, emotional detachment, difficulties in social work, fear, anxiety, depression, self blame, sleep disturbances and its varies depends on the person. In most developing countries rape is considered to be the fourth most heinous crime against women especially in India the cases are always been upsurge on a daily basis.

ALARAMING RISE OF CULTURAL VIOLENCE

The greatness of any nation can be witnessed by the status or the position given to the women. One among the factors that India in a global scale justifies its greatness is the culture especially in Ancient India, we find many women Hindu gods and the great law maker Manu said that where women are honored there reside the gods and even in the contemporary period there exists many women gods and many rituals still celebrated by the people of India. According to the National crime bureau report as of 2021 there are 77 rape cases reporting on a daily basis and 28,046 were reported on an average and constantly there has been an steady increase in the cases of crime against women. The hidden irony is women are discriminated and violated. Ever wondered in a country where female goddesses are worshiped the magnitude of crime against women is high, In practical during the circumstances the immediate reaction from the people is why does a rape occur? What are the factors contribute it? What causes a human to rape an other human? Well the answers are many. Studying from behavioral pattern of the accused till factors promoting a brutal crime are generally a discussed topic. In the contemporary period an upsurge in cases are witnessed through out the country, the one among the factor from the survivor side and from the public is why the judiciary is not taking any stringent punishment. India has long standing cultural history which discriminated women but in today’s scenario the participation of women in socio and political life has been increased not in a complete scale but it is far better than the earlier period this transformation came through by the laws of the country that allowed women to excel in their life. Patriarchal society, Gender inequality, sex as a taboo, power distance, Masculinity are the general factors that women have come across in the upliftment period along with laws of the country.

VICTIM OR SURVIVOR

On a global scale in the earlier period women struggled for equality under law beginning from right to participate in the socio political field to claiming equal status in the public sphere. In the present scenario many women protest for security. The magnitude of crime against women is getting brutal almost in global level it is not specially to developing countries. Earlier there will be rape cases reported claiming the action of rape but in present cases rape come murder is the normal thing i.e brutal rape along with murder of a person so the crime of rape has been normalized in India. According to the statics of NCB the rape cases are increasing year by year. While looking into holistic view of brutal rape come murder violence the notion of patriarchy is culturally justifiable by the public institutions for eg: public institutions and media constantly echo the narratives that public places are dangerous to women and the media headlines like women gang raped instead of “men gang rape women” , raped women rather than “men”, usage of words like victim rather than “survivor” the patriarchy trend not only justifies the rape its curb the freedom of women’s access to public spaces for work, education & leisure.

INSITUTIONAL DRAWBACKS

The violence of rape is a long standing stigma transformed in a more brutal way but the quantum of punishment which the legislations put forth is lesser than the crime for eg: in case of India the public outcry for death penalty or the capital punishment for the convicts is a long standing demand indeed the legislations are not supportive for that they come up with a saying “that abhorrent nature of a crime can’t be the sole decisive factor for awarding the death sentence” also courts followed by the principle of penology these principles quote “balancing the other obligations of society that is preserving human life whether accused or not unless termination thereof is inevitable and serves the other societal causes and collective conscience of the society”. Earlier in Nirbhaya case capital punishment is allowed for rape under the age of 12 after that ruling there have been many number of cases reported on a daily basis that the survivors aged below 12 but the execution of capital punishment is decreased to life imprisonment 30 years in maximum. In a recent judgement the supreme court commuted a man’s death sentence for the rape and murder of a 7 year old girl to life imprisonment. The judgement become an important precedent for the anti- death penalty case and it overrides the judgement of Nirbhaya case. Supreme court in its 1980 case issued the dicta of the “rarest of rare case” according to this when a murder is committed in such a brutal, ridiculous, diabolical, revolting or reprehensible manner that it awaken the community’s intense and extreme indignation, when a murder is driven by utter depravity and cruelty the death penalty is awarded to the convict. But the argument here is the crime of rape is normalized long ago and as we discussed above the brutality and rape comes with murder are high in number. The refusal of giving death penalty by the courts are in supportive of convicts and this is one of the major cause for the increase in number of rape. Apart from this the collection of evidence is not standardized by law challenges face in bottom level right from registration of complaint in police station till investigation and submission of evidence and the procedures related with are the factors which strengthen the convicts.

No nation, No society, No community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the practice of discriminating against one half of the humanity represented by women. In the 21st century where everyone ponders over human rights imposing death penalty is still looked in the view of patriarchal notion but the other side a section of humans been torn apart in the name of rape “Are women not humans” Why the human rights laws are not applicable to women indeed the supreme courts principles of penology preserving human life is failed in the case of women. The courts are stubborn in imposing death penalty rather than securing a life. The dire need of the hour is to preserve a women life. Until the punishment gets severe decrease in rape cases is still a nightmare.