AIDWA on gang-rape vis-à-vis death penalty

I am on a roll and I do not know where I will end up! But, undaunted, here I go again. I refer to an article in The Hindu of December 22, 2012. The fact that the byline is the generic Staff Reporter and having burned my fingers once on this score (in the immediately preceding post as pointed out by a colleague), I am not at all confident of what I am going to say. But, say I will.

Vice President of AIDWA, one Ms. Subhashini Ali, is reported to have said that, “vociferous calls for death penalty to rape accused … undermines demands for constructive reform [what these are, only she would be able to explain] … towards fostering a secure environment for women.”

Fast tracking gang-rape cases, this is OK with her. “[A]warding full punishment under the law” is also OK. For gang rape, as mentioned in the article, “full punishment” does not include capital punishment. Though she had not said that she would like to see death penalty for this type of crime, she may not be opposed in principle to capital punishment for the accused if found guilty. This could have been OK with me except that I am genetically predisposed to oppose the state, acting in my name, killing a person.

Ms. Ali asked for “action against the owner of the bus in which the incident took place”. This took me back about 30 years and in the US. It is in the early to mid 1980s, an outfit naming itself MADD came into being and quickly gained traction. MADD expands into Mothers Against Drunk Driving (as if fathers endorse drunk driving!). MADD played a crucial role in holding bars responsible for a patron getting too drunk and driving, like a third party liability. This is pretty much what Ms. Ali is seeking. I do not see anything wrong with that. At the very least it could get the owners thinking about whether their money could potentially be stained with blood, like his drivers driving drunk or raping people while on duty.

Ms. Ali added, “The accused was known as ‘mental’. Yet how could he be employed?” I had to say ouch! to this insensitive outburst. Even as Ms. Ali argues justifiably against “objectification” of women, she seems unaware of hurting pejoratives like ‘mental’. Just think what an upstanding person with this kind of disability will feel. Will she be clubbed with this accused? What kind of an employment was the accused involved in? Is he not fit for that? Even if he is not, that is between him and his employer. Where does Ms. Ali come in?

I know the nitty gritty of neither the Indian Penal Code nor Indian Criminal Code. Indeed, I do not even know which one would be applicable in the situation I want to bring to your notice.

If indeed the accused is ‘mentally not all up there’ (another pejorative, mentioned only for effect) can he be given the capital punishment? How much responsibility for his acts a person who may not be fully self-aware would be asked to bear by our laws? I have a feeling that the law must give him the benefit of doubt that he is not fully under self-control, going beyond temporary insanity.

It is not a long article. Yet, I found that there are ideas and statements in it that I could accept, argue with and reject. And, in the process create a blog post!

Raghuram Ekambaram

Gang-rape, death penalty, objectification, ‘mental’, AIDWA, MADD