Will rapist go scot free?

Kingshuk Nag
02 January 2013, 02:21 PM IST

The law is an ass, they say. I now know why. It now transpires that one of the accused in the Delhi rape case that has shaken the entire nation may not be punished at all. Reason: He is a minor and therefore he cannot be tried in a court of law. He will be tried in a juvenile court that will send him to a remand home and counsel him.

Great, I say. Here is the guy who was part of the gang rape team and he will go scot free. If newspaper reports have to be believed this was the guy who was the cruelest of them all. He is the guy who shoved the rusted iron rod into the body of Nirbhaya and then pulled it out.

It was this act ultimately that killed Nirbhaya because the rod ruptured her intestines and induced septicemia. Readers of newspapers may have noticed that this 'minor' guy has never been named in the reports. Reason: He is a minor and it will be a violation of law to name him. So the guy will not only go scot free but the country will never know his name either. Then he will melt in this country of billions and do what, one does not know. May be he will commit another rape.

But this beast's being a minor did not prevent him from committing a major crime and indulge in bestiality that has the nation shamed, angered and saddened. News reports say that he is six months away from being a major. In other words he is seventeen and a half. But what does that matter? From the point of view of a citizen (like me) his being a minor is of no consequence at all. He is guilty of a major crime that includes rape and murder. Therefore after the due process of law, he should be ordered to be hung till death.

The nation is angry, the citizens are perturbed. The country wide demonstrations are evidence of this. If this 'minor' is let off, the nation will again erupt. Because they will realize that nothing really matters in this great nation. You can do anything and take shelter behind the law. That is of course what has been happening in the country for long. Most rape cases do not end up in conviction for a variety of reasons. First in a large number of cases the police refuse to register an FIR and counsels peace.

In some cases they also suggest that the raped and rapist are united in wedlock. In large number of cases, the victim herself does not come forward with her complaint –shamed as she is by the unfriendly society she lives in. The society instead of recognizing her as a victim terms her as a 'loose character.'

Lastly many rapes happen in the privacy of home with the aggressor often times being a close relative or friend. Then when cases come to court, the defense lawyers ask the victim the most private of questions in the most intimidating of manner. Funnily enough many of the cases are held in public courts and not in camera. This is because the judges (in some cases) are not aware that they can declare that the trials in rape cases can be held in camera. The Nirbhaya case is one of the rare occasions where public opinion has come together.

The case is also an open and shut case. There are no real disputes about what happened, there are no doubts about how it all happened that fateful evening. Nirbhaya has given two testimonies to the magistrates/ police. Her friend has also assisted the police. To get a conviction in this case is none too difficult. In terms of ghastliness, this is one of the rarest of rare cases. All the accused deserve to be sentenced to death. There are no two opinions on this. That one of the 'gentlemen' is a minor is purely a matter of record. The nation demands justice and if justice is not done, the damage resulting will be far more than trying to save a so called minor.