Monday 2 May 2011

Chemical castration for rapists? Why not?


Kamini Lau,  Delhi's additional sessions judge, has shown a lot of pluck in calling for "chemical castration" of child rapists and serial offenders. It is high time we had some stiff punishment for these criminals. In our country rapists rarely get the imprisonment they deserve. At the end of this post, I give links to some cases which show the non serious manner in which society and our judges have been dealing with such cases. A former Chief Justice of  India had even suggested that the victim marry her rapist!

Kamini Lau is quoted as having said: "A full public debate, with regard to imposition of castration (both surgical and chemical) as an alternative punishment for the offence of rape and molestation, is the need of the hour." She made the observation while delivering a 10 year rigorous imprisonment for a man who raped his minor step daughter for over four years. To read the report in full click here.

Rapists in our country are let off  very lightly with just a few years in jail at best. The woman however goes through a private hell her whole life. The most telling example is the case of the Aruna Shanbag, the nurse in a Mumbai hospital who was raped by a ward boy.  Walmiki, the rapist, is a free man today after a few years in prison. He lives with his wife and children and works, (really horrifying as per some newspaper reports) in a hospital! Aruna, instead, lives a life confined to the hospital bed, having lost her power of speech and movement. Her fiance and family have deserted her. She has been alone for decades. The punishment meted out to the criminal in this case does not match his crime. He should have been imprisoned for life. And kept away from his wife and children. If he could behave in this way with a woman who was a senior colleague, it does not need much imagination to think how he must be treating his wife and daughters, if he has any.

A couple of years ago I had asked women bloggers from around the world what they felt should be the punishment for rape. What do you think they said? Prison for life or castration! The similarity in their response was amazing.

Some earlier posts -
Another shocking judgement on rape

Rape victim has to resort to legal action to take an exam!

Six month old baby girl raped

Rape, fastest growing crime in India

Society elders decide five shoe smacks enough punishment for a rapist

4 comments:

Bhagwad Jal Park said...

What do you think of "A Clockwork Orange" by Stanley Kubrick?

Unknown said...

Bhagwad Jal Park,
Nice to see you here. I found I could not plough through the book- found it very violent. Gave up after a few pages. What did you think of it?Have you seen the film?

Alise said...

I can't believe that India let men who rape women go without punishment, but they won't allow public affection! I thinks it's unfair to the female and her rights as a human being!! Indian males who "supposedly" value their females (mothers, sisters, and daughters) would allow some random male to live a wonderful life while she is haunted by this horrible traumatic life changing incident!!!!!!! I feel sorry for all Indian women! All rapists should be raped themselves and castrated publicly so they receive the same humiliation the woman has to endure the rest of their lives!! Also, India needs to grow up and accept the changes of a new day! All women aren't going to be virgins when they marry, and it doesn't make them not worthy of being married!

Unknown said...

I could not agree with you more on ublic affection and virginity!
Somehow, with all that I see wrong here, I have never felt sorry for myself. In some ways I feel privileged being an Indian. But that is a topic for another post.

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