Women favour speedy trial, not death sentence in rape cases

Notwithstanding the clamour for awarding capital punishment to rapists in wake of the New Delhi gangrape case, women from various sections of society are rather in favour of speedy trial in such cases and have welcomed Justice Verma panel's recommendations in this regard.

"The Justice Verma Committee's recommendations are right in view of the fact that it has recommended life sentence (whole life) to rapists in a case where the nature of crime is severe," former Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary and currently Chairperson of the Bhopal-based NGO Child Rights Observatory, Nirmala Buch, said.

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"The important issue is speedy trial in such cases, which is absolutely necessary to deter persons from indulging in such acts," she said.

"As far as capital punishment is concerned, the current legal process takes a lot of time in upholding death sentence, which has no meaning if it is executed ten years after the crime," Buch said.

On the issue of lowering the juvenile age from 18 to 16 years in view of such crimes, she said the issue should be dealt with carefully as many a times it has been observed that adults commit crime and shift the blame on a juvenile, knowing fully that nothing will happen to him (juvenile).

Endorsing Justice Verma panel's recommendations on not awarding death sentence to rapists, Barkatullah University's Sociology Department's Reader Ruchi Ghosh Dastidar said, "A lot of feminists are against awarding capital punishment in rape cases as its repercussions are different in rural and urban areas."

The reasons behind rape are different in urban and rural areas. And if death penalty is imposed in all cases, then it won't serve the required purpose and rather increase problems for the victim, Ruchi said.

"We need strict laws but what is more important is their speedy implementation, specially fast justice and filing of FIRs in police stations in such cases for checking crime," she said.

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