Ranjit Parihar
Increasing rape incidents in the country and strong protest afterwards by public against these incidents has raised several questions over snail pace of our justice delivery system in which people are losing faith day by day . The celebration by masses after the encounter of four accused involved in rape and murder of Hyderabad veterinary Doctor Disha has given a clear cut signal that people want speedy justice delivery system in such heinous crime .
One of the major reasons for increase of the incidents of rape is that our judicial system takes extremely long time in punishing the perpetrators due to which people are losing faith in the system. Justice delivery system involves police investigation and court trials which needs several reforms as per time and should be made time bound so that justice could be given to victims and punishment to offenders.
Rape is the most heinous crime, not only against the victim but also the society at large. It causes psychological and physical harm to the victim leaving upon her indelible marks, it shakes the very core of her life . Rape is a crime against basic human rights of a woman and is violative of the most cherished fundamental right in the Constitution of India i.e. right to life and personal liberty contained in Article 21 .
The data retrieved from the official website of Government of India shows alarming number of rape cases reported each year. In the last 15 years there have been 3,41,400 (Three lakh forty one thousand and four hundred) Rape cases reported. As against the rape cases reported each year, the conviction rate each year is very minimal, and that should be a matter of serious concern for a civilized society committed to give equal treatment to its women population..
The most recent incident of brutal rape and murder, in Hyderabad where a young female doctor had been gang-raped and murdered by her perpetrators, and burning incident of a rape victim in Unnav Uttar Pardesh who died later at Safderjung Hospital at Delhi has shocked the conscience of the nation and we all have witnessed mass protest from all corners of the country.
The rise of crime against women and rape cases in India is alarming. We really need to give a serious thought as what exactly we as a nation and civic society should do to ensure that the women and girl child of this country can live freely and without any fear. There must be several facets of this problem to be addressed, but here I am concentrating on the Legal aspect of this problem and the possible solutions to make the society a much better place for woman kind.
In my opinion, one of the major reasons of no deterrence or increase of the incidents of rape is that our judicial system takes extremely long time in punishing the perpetrator and this delayed rather lethargic judicial process has become a routine in all cases of rape. This delay can not be attributed to one wing of the justice delivery system but virtually to all, namely, Police Investigating Agency; Courts judicial process; and Law Making Body (Legislators).
The failure begins at the end of the society, when a person rapes a woman/ girl child. The second leg of failure takes place (invariably) when the victim or her family decides to lodge a complaint but it is invariably heard that the Police played the jurisdiction game and refused or avoided to register the FIR on one pretext or another (as is happened in Hyderabad case.. This is a serious concern which has to be addressed and a major reform action has to be taken to make the investigating agency victim-friendly.
In rape cases the number of witnesses is usually very less barring exceptions and therefore an extremely quick exercise at the end of the police from registering the FIR to catching hold of the accused to complete the investigation in a scientific manner and to file the charge sheet, in time bound manner . It is often seen as per early practice police takes more than six months in filling charge sheet in court which should be reformed and time bound investigation and charge filling should be done as supreme court has already issued guidelines in this regard .
For the speedy trial of rape cases trail should be conducted on day to day basis by taking note of the fact that the nation and the people of this country are seriously concerned with the outcome of the case. It is further observed that prolonged litigation undermines the public confidence and weakens the democracy and the rule of law.
Pending Appeals : There is unfortunately no time bound provision for appeals/ revisions to be decided in a time bound manner by High Courts and thereafter by Supreme Court in all cases of crime against women specially the rape cases. The mercy appeals pending before President of india should also be brought in time farme .
Separate legislation for crime against women
One can be amazed to notice that the legislators brought several legislations to combat the menace of corruption and to make effective provisions for prevention of bribery and corruption rampant amongst the public servants but so far the menace of rape and crime against women has apparently not been taken as seriously as the offences (above referred) are taken note of by the Legislators. It is high time that a self-contained comprehensive legislation is enacted in respect to crime against women to be tried by special designated courts for which special public prosecutors are appointed and the whole exercise is completed in a time bound manner as a mandate.
It is a saddening truth that whenever horrifying rape takes place, good amount of hue and cry is made, we all discuss the issues at length on all fora, but then the life goes on, nothing changes in the society by and large except adding few more ifs and buts in the life of the women to be followed by few more self-imposed restrictions. This shows that there is the need of sensitization of all stake holders of the justice delivery system right from the stage of registering the FIR till the last court of the country.
With the increase in the number of rape cases there is need for the formation of special courts especially to try the rape cases. With the increase in the number of rape cases there is urgent need for the formation of special courts for the speedy trial of rape cases. Frequent adjournments are the main obstacle for the speedy trial. Our judiciary is already backlog with huge number of cases=steps should be taken to increase strength of judges to clear backlog . All cases of rape to be dealt with special courts be cleared within 6 months to a year. So that the victim can get justice soon, as far as possible such courts should be preside by a woman judge. The presence of woman judge would ensure the dignity and respectability of the victim in the court as well as sympathetic and forbearing attitude towards them.
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