Two judgements delivered on the same day in different parts of the country have rendered signal service to the cause of the women of our land. The death sentence pronounced on three double rapists by a sessions court in Mumbai on the strength of a new and more deterrent law drawn up in the wake of the Delhi gangrape sets a frightening precedent for any repeat offender guilty of such a heinous crime. The Kerala High Court holding 24 men guilty of taking advantage of a poor kidnapped girl and repeatedly raping her in what has come to be known infamously as the Suryanelli case brings closure to a case complicated by meandering jurisprudence and case law.
Deterrent punishment is the only way to get the message across that crimes against women will not be tolerated in our society. The two judgments carry that message in strident tones. The punishment meted out to the three men who were involved in two different rape cases in the compound of a Mumbai mill may have to stand the test of appeals to higher courts. The condemned men have their legal rights and, with the help of their lawyers, will probably do everything to avoid the noose. But the mood of the higher judiciary is also one of coming down severely on such offences that tear at the very moral fibre of the nation, subjecting women to unimaginable indignity.
The Suryanelli case is a pathetic representation of how long it took the judicial system to realise the gravity of the offences committed against a helpless girl. The case went back and forth until the highest judiciary of the land had to order a rehearing after a mass acquittal in the Kerala high court that seemed based on perverted interpretation of law wherein, by cynical character assassination of the victim, defence lawyers were able to convince a full bench that the victim was a deviant and her testimony untrustworthy. Justice may have been served only after the promptings of the Supreme Court but it was vital that the case be pursued to the bitter end lest the guilty get away on technicalities.
A lot more remains to be done on the count of women’s safety, but the judiciary has shown the way in tackling a menace that has singed the national mood. The matter of how to treat juvenile offenders when they commit heinous crimes like rape has to be tackled firmly. There are several guidelines in how some countries with model judicial systems tackle this and India would have to follow such examples if every rapist in the land is to be forced to face the full might of the law.
