After the Nirbhaya case, the laws became stricter but the courage of the monsters did not break. Are we also not responsible for the cruelty against our daughters?

New Delhi: The brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata has brought back memories of the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi 12 years ago. The brutality inflicted on Nirbhaya shook the conscience of every person who believed in humanity. The heinous crime against a junior doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital on the night of 8-9 August has once again agitated the country. Everyone is asking that the country is progressing at a fast pace in many areas, but why is success not being achieved in the matter of women’s safety? Statistics show that in the year 2012, when the tragic incident of Nirbhaya incident took place, there were 24,915 cases of rape of women across the country. Even after a decade has passed since then, the incidents of rape have continued to increase instead of decreasing. In these 10 years, there has not been a single year when the figures of rape were less than those of 2012. Then the question arises that why the incidents of brutality are not decreasing despite the strictness in the laws for women’s safety after the Nirbhaya incident?

A record of brutality was created in 2016

If we look at the incidents of rape in the country between the years 2012 and 2022, a record was made in the year 2016 with a total of 39,068 cases. Then Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make arrangements for fast track hearing for quick decisions in rape cases. Rahul had tweeted in 2018, ‘In 2016, there were 19,675 cases of rape of minors. This is shameful. The PM should fast track these cases and punish the culprits, if he/she is serious about getting justice for our daughters.’

After the Nirbhaya incident, pressure mounted on the government and…

After the outrage that arose in the whole country after the Nirbhaya incident, the then Manmohan Singh government had made a big change in the law. The government had brought the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance on February 3, 2013. Under this, changes were made in sections 181 and 182 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In these, the rules related to rape were made very strict and provision was made to give death penalty to the culprit. Under the new law, touching a woman inappropriately, molesting and other methods of sexual exploitation were also put in the category of rape. Not only this, a new law named POCSO was brought for the rape of minors. Under the POCSO Act, provision has been made for immediate arrest of the accused. he/she does not even get bail while the victim is given protection.

Laws kept getting stricter even in Modi government

In 2014, when there was a change of power in the country and Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of the country in place of Manmohan Singh, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act came into force in the next year 2015. Under the new law, provision was made to prosecute a person accused of sexual violence between the ages of 16 and 18 as an adult. Then in the year 2018, the Union Home Ministry launched the National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO). This database makes it easier for law enforcement agencies to take action against criminals. This database stores information on cases like rape, gang rape, molestation, stalking, sexual abuse of children, etc. In the year 2019-20, the Central Government created 1,023 fast track special courts, of which 389 are special POCSO courts. Its purpose is to provide speedy justice to the victim and punish the culprits for their crime as soon as possible. On the question of Rajya Sabha MP Jawahar Sarkar, the then Minister of State for Home had informed that as of December 31, 2021, there were 700 fast track court operations in 27 states and union territories of the country, out of which 383 were fully POCSO courts.

Women’s safety is a priority in BNS too

Last year in 2023, when the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) were replaced by the Indian Justice Code (BNS) and the Indian Civil Security Code (BNSS) respectively, women’s safety was given more priority. The new law provides for a minimum sentence of 10 years for the rape convict and a minimum sentence of 20 years for the gang rape convict. At the same time, the convict of gang rape of a minor will have to spend his/her entire life in jail. Section 64 of the BNS says that the convict of rape can be sentenced to a minimum of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment or life imprisonment along with a fine. The new law says that if the victim is below 16 years of age, the convict will be sentenced to a minimum of 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. Similarly, every convict of gang rape will be sentenced to a minimum of 20 years of rigorous imprisonment which can be converted into life imprisonment. If the victim is below 18 years of age, every convict will be sentenced to life imprisonment and will have to remain in jail till his/her last breath.

Laws became stricter, but rape incidents did not stop

It is such a sad situation that on one hand the laws became stricter, on the other hand the cases of rape also kept on increasing. After 2012, heinous crimes of sexual violence against women kept coming to light from every corner of the country, not to mention cases like molestation and stalking. Many high profile cases came to light in which allegations were made of playing with the honor of women. In many cases, the victim died and till date it is not known whether she died or was murdered and whether rape also took place before the murder. In such a situation, it is a matter of serious contemplation that why our laws remained completely ineffective? If no one is learning a lesson even after hanging the accused of Nirbhaya, then there is no doubt that the roots of the problem are very deep. If we go to the bottom of it, then one of the serious problems that can be seen even with closed eyes is politics. Somewhere there is concern about the image of the government, party and leader and somewhere there is tension about vote bank.

Disgusting politics even on cruelty against women

Whether it is the case of Kolkata or Ayodhya and Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh, everywhere disgusting politics was done on the inhuman atrocities on women. Before Kolkata, Kannauj and before that Ayodhya, cases of rape of girls came to light. In Ayodhya, a girl of only 12 years was continuously raped. The allegation was on an official of Samajwadi Party (SP). his/her servant also kept raping the girl. Later, when the girl became pregnant, the matter came to light. Can you imagine what would be the age of the accused SP official? he/she is a man of the age of the girl’s grandfather. But the party chief and former Chief Minister of the state Akhilesh Yadav stood firmly with the accused. he/she demanded a DNA test, said that the innocent should not be framed, but did not say even once that whoever is guilty should get the harshest punishment.

UP: After Ayodhya, Jaunpur rape incident, Akhilesh Yadav demanded DNA test, Mayawati attacked

Our daughters are suffering the brunt of criminalization of politics

On the other hand, in Kannauj, SP leader Nayab Singh Yadav was accused of raping a girl. The party and its leader, who claim to fight for the poor, Dalits and marginalized people of the society, did not at least take the side of the victim in both these cases. Reason – MY equation of vote bank. The accused in Ayodhya is a Muslim and the accused in Kannauj is a Yadav. Both of them are SP supporters. On the other hand, in Kolkata, there is a question of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s image, so what is the concern if a woman is brutally murdered after dishonouring her at her workplace? It is not that this is only the case of SP or TMC, there is no party in the country which is not affected by this disease of vote bank. Everyone has linked the criminals to caste and religion, rather they have given all the opportunities to the criminals to earn position, prestige and money. The condition of criminalization of politics is such that no party is untouched by it today.

The failure of the police and justice system

The second biggest problem is the almost complete breakdown of the police and the justice system. How much of the population today trusts the police and the justice system? We have a saying here that may God save us from the hassles of hospitals and courts. Imagine how difficult the process of getting justice would be where people shy away from going to court! The film dialogue of ‘date after date’ is still quite famous. First, the police do not register cases, rather if the accused is influential, they harass the victim’s family and then the process of hearing in the courts is so long and boring that till justice is delivered, God knows how much water flows in the Ganga-Yamuna.

The smile of the monsters of Ajmer stirs up wounds

This is the reason that when the POCSO court gave its verdict on the Ajmer sex scandal of 1991-92, all the accused were smiling. They are old. They know that they have lived their lives, have settled their families, have raised their children, now they have no responsibilities. So what if the rest of their lives are spent in jail? Anyway, reaching jail is not that easy. The POCSO court’s verdict has come in the last 30-32 years. Now they will challenge it in the High Court and Supreme Court. By then they will be of the age of natural death. In the meantime, if they have to go to jail for a few days, what is the big deal? Therefore, on the verdict of the POCSO court, the accused were hugging each other and mocking the judicial process with a sweet smile.

Ajmer Sex Scandal: 32 years later, 6 accused sentenced to life imprisonment, fined Rs 30 lakh, read Ajmer sex scandal update

Are we all guilty of our daughters’ crimes?

There is outrage in the country after the Kolkata incident. People associated with the medical field as well as people from other fields and common life are worried about only one thing that if such brutality is not curbed, what will happen to their daughters? As a patriotic citizen, this is also a matter of concern because today when India is making all-round progress, inhuman incidents like rape are continuously tarnishing its image. In such a situation, all-round initiatives will have to be taken for women’s safety. The system of legal action will have to be made absolutely efficient through police and judicial reforms, and the habit of giving maximum importance to morality will have to be inculcated in politics and social life. Polluting the society for selfish reasons is the biggest crime. We will have to tell the leaders that if they look for caste, religion and votes in the criminals, then their bad days are sure to come. We will be able to give such a message only when as a society we can rise above bad thinking. When we ourselves start believing that a criminal is a criminal, no matter which caste, religion or community he/she belongs to.