The Madhya Pradesh government approved a bill to award capital punishment to those convicted of raping girls aged 12 and below as per a recent announcement of the State government. The bill has been approved by the State cabinet and this is intended to strengthen the law to protect girls. This bill named Public Safety Bill will be introduced in the assembly soon. Reportedly the bill provides stringent measures, including a fine of Rs. 1 lakh if an accused found stalking a girl for the second time and his crime is proved.
Madhya Pradesh has topped the list of sexual offences in the country over the last decade. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report 2016, Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of rape cases, 4391, in 2015. Maharashtra followed, with 4,144 cases. In the year 2005 too, Madhya Pradesh recorded highest number of rape cases among all Indian states. The idea behind the proposed legislation is that such a strong action will help in checking the menace of child-sex abuse.
THE BACKGROUND
Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra seem to be racing with each other in this dubious distinction. According to the report, in sexual offences against children, Madhya Pradesh registered the second highest number of cases, 1,687, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in 2015. Maharashtra registered the highest number of cases, 3,078.
Capital penalty in India is prescribed for heinous crimes like murder, gang robbery with murder, waging a war against the government, including terrorist activities. If convicted of murders, courts generally award death penalty only in “rarest of the rare” cases. Death penalty is imposed only when the crime of murder is committed in extremely brutal and revolting manner which the society considers to be the most outrageous and annoying. So, the test is that it is a crime against not only a person or group of persons but also against the society. This logic is true also in the case of rape; it is both against the victim and the society at large.
THE OVERVIEW
The need of strong punishment, commensurate with the crime, cannot be debated. However, in the present condition of the society stimulus for wrong-doings is stronger than the deterrents. If we are serious in rooting out misdeeds, our attention should be towards discouraging inducements that lure human beings to trespass and indulge in lawbreaking.
Another related issue is the concept of the crime itself. The law, as it stands today in our country, defines rape in such a fashion that extra-marital consensual sexual acts within willing adults wherein the female partner is aware of “the nature and consequences of her consent” is not rape. On the other hand, sexual acts by a man with his own wife who is below 15 years of age may constitute a rape punishable under the law. These laws may be in wavelength of the present morality of the world but are not in tune with a society where crime should be discouraged and dissuaded and good deeds rewarded.