After the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital, the Mamata government has passed a new bill regarding women’s safety. This bill has a provision to complete the investigation and end the trial in cases related to rape and gang rape as soon as possible. Apart from this, a provision has also been made for death penalty for all the culprits of rape and gang rape.
If this bill named ‘Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Law Amendment) Bill 2024’ becomes a law, then it will be implemented in the whole of Bengal. Through this amendment, sexual crimes against women and children have been made cognizable and non-bailable.
Mamata government’s new bill amends the Indian Justice Code (BNS), Indian Civil Security Code (BNSS) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
This bill provides for death penalty for all the accused of rape and gangrape. Along with this, the police will have to complete the investigation in such cases within 21 days. If the investigation is not completed within the stipulated time, then 15 more days can be sought, but the reason for the delay will have to be given in the court. At the same time, in cases of sexual crimes against women and children, the trial will have to be completed within one month of filing the charge sheet.
However, currently this bill has only been passed in the Assembly and it is yet to get the approval of the Governor and the President to become a law.
However, this is not the first time that the law has had to be changed for women’s safety. Earlier too, the law has been changed to give the harshest punishment to rapists. Some states have also changed the laws. But despite the change in the law, the situation has not changed. The statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau show that even now 86 rapes take place every day in the country.
Death sentence to rapists after Nirbhaya incident
On the night of 16 December 2012, a young woman was gang-raped in a moving bus on the streets of Delhi. During this, the brutes crossed all limits. Later, the young woman died. This incident shook the country.
After the Nirbhaya incident, the law was made very strict. The definition of rape was also changed so that crimes against women could be reduced. Earlier, only relations made forcefully or without consent were considered rape. But after this, the law was amended in 2013 and its scope was increased. It is also called ‘Nirbhaya Act’.
Not only this, the Juvenile Law was amended. After this, if a teenager below the age of 16 or 18 commits a heinous crime, he will be treated like an adult. This amendment was made because one of the six Nirbhaya convicts was a minor and was released in three years.
Apart from this, provision for death penalty was also made in rape cases. After this, if the victim dies after rape or goes into a coma-like condition, then the culprit can also be given the death penalty.
However, despite all this, there has been no improvement. Statistics show that before 2012, an average of 25 thousand cases of rape were registered every year. But after this, this figure reached above 30 thousand. In 2013 itself, more than 33 thousand cases were registered. In 2016, the figure reached close to 39 thousand.
Also read: How many hurdles are there in hanging rapists? Will Mamata’s ‘Aparajita Bill’ be able to guarantee women’s safety?
5 years ago the law was also changed in Andhra
On 27 November 2019, a 27-year-old woman was raped and murdered in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. She was named ‘Disha’. The police had arrested four accused in the case. But later all four were killed in an encounter. All four had tried to escape from police custody.
After the Disha case, there were protests across the country. After this incident, the Andhra Pradesh government introduced a new bill for strict punishment in cases of rape and gang rape. It was named ‘Disha Bill’. Under this, the criminal law was amended.
In the Disha Bill, there was a provision to pronounce the sentence in 21 days in cases of rape and gang rape. The bill had a provision that the investigation would have to be completed in 7 days and the trial would have to be over and the sentence would have to be pronounced in 14 days. This bill had a provision for death penalty for rapists. Not only this, this bill also had a provision that if a person harasses a woman on social media, he will be sentenced to 2 years in jail. If the same crime is committed for the second time, he will have to serve a jail sentence of 4 years.
However, this bill has not yet become a law. According to reports, Andhra Pradesh’s Disha bill has not yet received the President’s approval.
NCRB data shows that 1,086 cases of rape were registered in Andhra in 2019. Whereas, 1,095 cases were reported in 2020. However, there was a big reduction in rape cases in 2022 as compared to 2019. 621 cases of rape were registered in 2022.
In how many cases of rape is there punishment?
According to NCRB data, the conviction rate in rape cases is only 27 to 28 percent. That is, out of 100 rape cases, the accused is proven guilty only in 27 cases, in the rest of the cases the accused are acquitted.
The report shows that by the end of 2022, about two lakh cases of rape were pending in courts across the country. In 2022, the trial was completed in only 18 and a half thousand of these cases. Of the cases in which the trial was completed, the culprit was punished in only about 5 thousand cases. Whereas, in more than 12 thousand cases the accused was acquitted.
Not only this, despite the provision of death penalty in rape cases, only five rapists have been sentenced to death in 24 years. In 2004, Dhananjay Chatterjee was hanged in a 1990 rape case. Whereas, in March 2020, four Nirbhaya convicts – Mukesh, Vinay, Pawan and Akshay were hanged in Tihar Jail.
Also read: Rapists already get punishment ranging from life imprisonment to death, then how different is Mamata government’s anti-rape bill?
What is the law regarding rape?
Section 65 of the Indian Penal Code (BNS) provides that if a person is found guilty of raping a girl under the age of 12, he can be sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment. In this too, the punishment of life imprisonment will remain as long as the culprit is alive. There is also a provision for death penalty if found guilty in such cases. Apart from this, provision for fine has also been made.
If found guilty in cases of gang rape, the punishment is 20 years to life imprisonment and a fine. Under Section 70(2) of the BNS, if found guilty of gang rape of a minor, the punishment will be at least life imprisonment and can also be death sentence. There is also a provision for fine in such cases.
Under Section 66 of the BNS, if a woman dies in a rape case or goes into a coma, the culprit will be sentenced to a minimum of 20 years. This punishment can be extended to life imprisonment or even death penalty.
Apart from this, POCSO Act was implemented in 2012 to prevent sexual crimes against minors. Earlier, there was no death penalty in the law, but in 2019, it was amended and provision for death penalty was also made. Under this law, if a person is sentenced to life imprisonment, then he will have to spend his entire life in jail. This means that the accused cannot come out of jail alive.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)