New Delhi: This year, December 16, the sun is little warmer but that little extra sunshine is almost hopelessly insufficient to stop that shiver down the spine when memories of last year’s December 16 pay a visit.
She had a dream, but what she got instead was a nightmare. A 23-year-old para-medical student in the prime of her youth wanting to live life to the fullest, even on the deathbed when her breath was deserting her, said she wanted to live.
But had she lived, she would have seen the hollowness of her fight, the shallowness of the unrepentant and the callousness of the powerful. That, besides cosmetic changes, nothing has changed on the ground.
“The government was hoping that the legal process will be fast-tracked in a way that the accused are punished for their crime against her,” a top government functionary said.
Wheels of justice are still excruciatingly slow. Though capital punishment has been pronounced on four accused in the case, the case is taking longer than expected to reach its logical end.
The parents of the deceased lament the fact the case is dragging on even after a year and are demanding death sentence for the juvenile as well.
Ragini, who clashed with the police along with thousand others at India Gate after the horrific crime, says the only silver lining is that at least the people have not forgotten.
“Our fight will continue,” she adds. The case of the 23-year-old ensured that the government revises the decades old laws on women’s safety to bring the new “gender-specific” anti-rape law mooting death sentence for repeat offences and brutal gangrape cases.
For the first time, stalking and voyeurism got defined as non-bailable offences under the IPC and acid attack invited a 10-year jail sentence. What has not changed is the attitude of the policeman and the mere lip service by state police forces on having zero tolerance towards all crimes against women.
Learning from all that went wrong on the horrific night, the Centre is working on a nationwide e-911 facility where a woman in distress can press the panic button to call for help. A review by the home ministry last week shows on an average 1,200 calls are received on the women helplines 1096 and 1091 everyday in the capital.
There are women complaining of domestic violence, acid attacks, sexual harassment, gender bias, family pressures, blackmail, stalking and the list is never ending. A recent examination of records of calls made at the Delhi CM’s helpline number 141 showed 4,08,688 calls have been received and 3,15,765 were answered in the last eleven months.
The figures are on a steady rise. It isn’t surprising. As per the NCRB, 2,44,270 incidents of crime against women were reported in the country during 2012 as compared to 2,28,650 in 2011, recording an increase of 6.4 per cent.
The rate of crime in cities at 47.8 was comparatively higher than the national rate of 41.7. Delhi has accounted for 19.3 per cent of rape cases among 53 cities. In crimes against women, Delhi is followed by Bengaluru (6.2 per cent), Kolkata (5.7 per cent), Hyderabad (5.2 per cent).
Changes in law
In April 2013, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act was passed in Parliament to amend laws related to sexual offence:
- The law treats stalking and voyeurism as non-bailable offences. Punishment for stalking is three to five years and for voyeurism is three to seven years.
- The definition of rape now also includes insertion of any object into the vagina, urethra and anus, and oral sex.
- Acid-attack is now punishable with 10-year imprisonment.
- Police officer who fails to file an FIR in any case related to sexual assault on women and acid-attack will face two to six years imprisonment.
- A person “watching a woman in any manner” causing “distress” can be jailed for a year.
- Minimum imprisonment in case of gangrape is now 20 years.
- A new Section 376A says if a rape victim dies or is left in vegetative state, the punishment will be at least 20 years.
- The law now approves death penalty in most extreme cases of rape.
- Marital rape, however, is still not a criminal offence.
