An Indian state that was rocked by the gruesome rape and murder of a trainee doctor last month is set to introduce tougher penalties for rape that include life imprisonment and death sentences.
But activists question whether stringent laws alone can help stem cases of sexual assault against women, whose numbers have remained high, although India has ramped up punishments for rape over the last decade.
The Aparjita Woman and Child Bill, unanimously passed by the West Bengal state assembly on Tuesday, raises prison terms for people convicted of rape — from 10 years that the federal law presently stipulates to either life imprisonment or execution. It also includes measures to accelerate rape investigations.
The bill still must be approved by the president before becoming law. It was passed amid outrage over the violent assault of a 31-year-old doctor at a hospital in the city last month. Three weeks on, enraged doctors in the state capital, Kolkata, continue to hold protests demanding safety for medics and justice for the victim. A police volunteer working at the hospital has been arrested and charged with the crime.
The West Bengal government said the bill aims to enhance protection for women and children and create a safer environment for them.
But stiffer punishment will do little to deter offenders in a country with a slow-moving justice system, according to lawyers and women rights activists.
“There is little fear of the law. That is because trials seldom result in convictions — the conviction rate in rape cases is only about 28%,” pointed out Abha Singh, a lawyer and social activist.
She said police investigations often face hurdles. “We have too few forensic laboratories, and the police are sometimes short staffed. Then, witness protection is not effective, so witnesses often turn hostile. So, we first need to first fix the justice system if we want women and girls to be safe.”
Women’s rights activists point out that the federal government brought in sweeping changes to criminal laws in 2013 following the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in New Delhi. Five years later, the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl led to even stiffer punishments — the government enhanced minimum prison terms from 10 to 20 years for the rape of a girl younger than 16 and from seven to 10 years for older women.
But statistics show those changes had little impact on cases of sexual violence against women. About 25,000 cases were recorded in 2012. Ten years later, in 2022, that number stood at more than 31,000, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.
In a country where executions are rare, some also oppose the bill’s provision for giving a death sentence for rape in cases where the victim dies or enters a vegetative state. India has capital punishment for only the most serious cases, or what are called the “rarest of rare cases,” such as gruesome murders and terror attacks.
The Supreme Court imposed the death penalty on four men convicted of the 2012 rape of the 23-year-old woman after calling it the “most brutal, barbaric and diabolical” crime.
“I think stiffer punishments, particularly the death penalty, is not the way to go. Such laws come in response to the public outcry when there is a particularly horrific case,” according to Mary John, a former director at the Centre for Women’s Development Studies in New Delhi. “The death penalty is not a demand that has come from women’s groups.”
Women’s rights activists also say that rather than harsher punishments, the major challenge is to change attitudes and patriarchal mindsets that are blamed for the continuing tide of sexual violence against women.
“The need of the hour is to empower women and create safer workplaces for them. This rape in Kolkata, for example, happened inside the hospital premises,” according to Ranjana Kumari, director for Center for Social Research in New Delhi. “And what is failing women is not the existing laws but their implementation.”
In the wake of the rape of the trainee doctor, India’s Supreme Court has set up a national task force of doctors who will make recommendations on the safety of health care workers at their workplace.
