DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE?

DEATH PENALTY FOR RAPE?

CERTIFICATE COURSE CLASS BY NEETIKA VISHWANATH

The Women’s Study Centre of Jesus and Mary College conducted its first certificate course class of 2020 on the 29th of January, 2020. The module discussed was titled ‘Death Penalty for Rape’ and was conducted by Ms Neetika Vishwanath, a lawyer by training with a masters degree in Women’s Studies. Her knowledge gathered from her work on both sides of the criminal justice system, previously with women survivors of violence and now on issues of prisoners sentenced to death gave birth to insightful discussions.

The class commenced when Ms Neetika took the opinions of the audience on the death penalty given to the convicts of the Nirbhaya Case and asked if a different course of should’ve been taken. What unfolded was a discussion wherein members of the audience brought to the table a plethora of opinions, ideas and questions. While some highlighted the role that education is likely to play in the rehabilitation of convicts, others emphasised on ideas for making changes in the grassroot levels of the system including better training of the police and an increase in the number of lady police officers. With respect to punishment, some believed that the nature and brutality of the crime should be important determinants as opposed to the age of the convicts. Instilling fear through strengthened laws and faster decision making processes was an idea raised by a few people. Ms Neetika carefully noted all these ideas on the whiteboard and used these as pointers for the subsequent discussions and answered all the questions that were raised.

Ms Neetika pointed out that the Nirbhaya Case was in fact one of the fastest tried cases despite being stretched over a period of eight years. She also said that often in order to cater to certain special cases we overlook other angles. She threw light upon class and caste issues entrenched in such cases stating that cases of Dalits are not even registered let alone fought. She urged the audience to make productive use of their anger and to channelize it in the right direction. What we often get to know is only a part of the truth, only a limited amount of information based on which we cannot urge the judiciary to take decisions. We must thus trust the processes that go on behind courtrooms. We must thus realise that due processes are important to preserve rights of both victims and convicts. 

Ms Neetika then shared with us the information she had gathered from her interaction with convicts. She mentioned that most convicts from marginalised communities didn’t even know their lawyers and that the legal aid system is weak and they do not get the best of lawyers. She said that juvenile action in such cases must be viewed in terms of their experiences in society. She also told that according to her interviews, most perpetrators were unaware about punishments that their crimes would bring. Therefore, strict punishments were unable to instil fear in their minds and that, only stricter and efficient processes were likely to bring.

The floor was then opened for questions and some extremely crucial ones were raised. One question asked was whether convicts who have faced childhood traumas must be excused from being punished to which Ms Neetika said that death penalties in such cases was not the best response and that alternative punishments must be given. It was found that death penalties only lead to deterrence in terms of reporting of a crime and not committing and that these can create serious troubles for the victims. She expressed her disapproval for the word ‘rapist’ which conveniently attaches the word rape to people’s identities and makes all other facets of it irrelevant. Another question asked was whether an individual can be a part of a panel evaluating his own case. This according to Ms Neetika defied the basic principles of criminal law. After this short question and answer session, the class was wrapped up. The class sent its students home with a head full of questions and an altered way of looking at the issue discussed.