The recent rape of a 23 year old journalist on duty in Mumbai has brought back memories of the horrendous incident of December 16 when Nirbhaiya, a Delhi girl was not just gang-raped but also brutally attacked and died as a result of that attack. Journalists live precarious lives because there is no place that they can call “unsafe.” They are required to do a story or follow one in every nook and corner of the city or town or mohalla that falls within their beat. The fact of the matter is that India has become a country where some spaces have been made unsafe because it has become the safe haven for people with unsound minds. What else can you term a person who launches the worst form of attack on a woman – an attack that becomes a nightmare for the rest of her life?
That the Mumbai journalist has been brave enough to say she is not a rape ‘victim’ but a survivor is an indication that women want to fight back and claim their space and mobility as a right. Why should they fear the dark or why should they be told that the clothes they wear provoke violation of their modesty? It is only a sick mind that can contemplate rape. After the Delhi rape incident women’s groups across the nation sought for stronger anti-rape laws. But what actually fails to serve as a deterrent against rape is the long trial period that the rapist undergoes. More often than not he gets bail and moves around to prey on another unsuspecting woman. A person with a sick mind can hardly be expected to behave normally or to reform himself after undergoing a jail sentence.
Meanwhile there has been much debate on whether a rapist should be given death penalty or chemical castration. Perhaps the best deterrent is to sentence a rapist to life imprisonment because such a person has no right to move around in civil society. And the plea that a rapist who is a minor should be given a more lenient sentence does not cut any ice. Anyone who can get into the act of rape has no excuse to claim to be a minor. He deserves as much punishment as an adult. It is instructive that in the Williamnagar rape case which happened on December 15 last year, nine of the sixteen men who raped a young school-going girl, now claim to be minors. Their legal counsels are now asking for a softer sentence from the Court. If this leniency is granted it would be a travesty of justice.