Woman assault (Representative Image) (rawpixel)
New Delhi: West Bengal government has introduced the 'Aparajita Bill' in response to yet another brutal crime, aiming to fast-track trials in rape and gang rape cases, leading to swift convictions and executions. Despite numerous legislative changes over the years, crimes against women, particularly rape, continue to plague the nation.
The 'Aparajita Bill' promises to expedite investigations and deliver justice more efficiently. It ensures that rape and gang rape convicts face the death penalty and mandates a quicker judicial process. However, despite previous legal amendments designed to protect women, including stricter penalties and faster trials, the number of rape cases remains alarmingly high.
In the wake of the gruesome rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, the Mamata Banerjee government has introduced the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Law Amendment) Bill, 2024. The bill outlines a comprehensive framework for expediting investigations and trials related to sexual offenses, with provisions for death sentences for convicted rapists. The bill seeks to make sexual offenses against women and children both cognizable and non-bailable.
Through this bill, significant amendments are being made to the Code of Justice of India (BNS), the Indian Civil Protection Code (BNSS), and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. The goal is clear: deliver justice swiftly and deter potential offenders by making the legal consequences more severe.
The bill includes a provision requiring police to complete investigations within 21 days for cases involving sexual offenses against women and children. If additional time is needed, an extension of 15 days can be requested, but the delay must be justified in court. Additionally, trials must be completed within a month of the charge sheet being filed, further emphasizing the need for swift justice.
However, while the bill has been passed in the West Bengal assembly, it still awaits approval from the Governor and the President before it can officially become law.
The 'Aparajita Bill' is not the first time laws have been strengthened in response to heinous crimes. Following the infamous Nirbhaya incident of 2012, in which a young woman was gangraped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus in Delhi, India enacted the Nirbhaya Act. This law expanded the definition of rape and introduced harsher penalties, including the death sentence, for those convicted of such crimes. The Juvenile Justice Act was also amended, lowering the age threshold for trying juveniles as adults in cases of serious crimes, after one of the Nirbhaya convicts was found to be a minor.
Despite these legal reforms, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows little change in the prevalence of rape cases. Before 2012, India saw an average of 25,000 rape cases annually. After the Nirbhaya incident and the resulting legal reforms, that number rose to over 30,000 cases per year, peaking at 39,000 in 2016.
Five years ago, another shocking crime galvanized legal reform in Andhra Pradesh. In November 2019, a 27-year-old woman was raped and murdered in Hyderabad, an incident that became known as the Disha case. The outrage that followed led to the introduction of the Disha Bill, which proposed completing rape investigations within 7 days and trials within 14 days, with a mandatory death penalty for rapists.
However, like Bengal’s Aparajita Bill, the Disha Bill is yet to receive the President’s approval. Despite the state's proactive legal stance, rape cases continue, though the NCRB data indicates a decline in Andhra Pradesh since 2019.
One of the most pressing issues in India’s fight against sexual violence is the low conviction rate. NCRB data shows that only 27-28% of rape cases result in convictions, meaning that in the majority of cases, the accused walk free. In 2022, nearly two lakh rape cases were pending in courts across the country, with trials concluded in only 18,500 of them. Of these, convictions were secured in just 5,000 cases, while 12,000 accused were acquitted.
Even with the provision of the death penalty in rape cases, executions remain rare. Only five convicts have been hanged in rape cases over the past 24 years. The most recent executions occurred in March 2020, when four of the men convicted in the Nirbhaya case were executed at Tihar Jail.
Under Section 65 of the Indian Justice Code, raping a girl under the age of 12 can result in a sentence ranging from 20 years to life imprisonment. In extreme cases, the death penalty may also be applied. For gang rape, the punishment is similarly severe, with life imprisonment or death as possible sentences under Section 70(2).
The POCSO Act, initially implemented in 2012 to prevent sexual offenses against minors, was amended in 2019 to include the death penalty for heinous crimes against children. Life imprisonment under this law is interpreted literally—offenders sentenced to life must remain in jail for the rest of their lives, with no possibility of parole.
Despite successive legal reforms and the introduction of harsher penalties, crimes against women, particularly rape, continue to be a widespread issue in India. The introduction of bills like Aparajita and Disha signals the government’s commitment to women’s safety, but without efficient enforcement and societal change, these legal amendments may fall short of delivering the intended impact.
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