The Shakti mills gang rape convicts being sentenced to death
is a victory for the society at large. There have been opinions that the
death sentence left some organizations in a sense of “betrayal.” What I really
fail to understand is the fact that where lies the question of betrayal? Who
should be talking about the betrayal? Weren’t the photojournalist and the
school dropout telephone operator betrayed when they entered the mill to
fulfill their respective objectives?
No matter what background the convicts came from and
whatever their financial status was, the crime they committed repeatedly was heinous.
When pardoned once, they had the guts to attack again. This type of crime doesn’t
need any sympathy from any section of the society. Yet I am amazed to see
people offering their sympathy to such people. What is all the more shocking is
the organizations which are trying to help the victims recover are also sympathizing
with the “criminals.”
It is very poignant when it is said that rape is not murder
and does not belong to the “rarest of the rare” case. Should one wait for the
rarest of the rare cases so that the death sentence is awarded in that case? To
madam Flavia Agnes, with all due respect to you, your organization and the work
that you have done but could you justify how being raped it not the murder of a
girl? Physically the victim may be breathing but I don’t believe it would be
easy for one to get out of the trauma faced. The society that we live in won’t
accept the girl and it would become all the more miserable for one to live in
such circumstances.
Do we really need to ask those girls who have been
traumatized by the crime what would they like to offer to the committers of
crime? That would be a “serious mockery” of the system. Such transgressions
should be dealt with at the earliest. This would show to the potential
criminals what would be their fate in case they want to “hunt” another “shikaar.”
I would like to ask the girls and women of our country that isn’t
rape the rarest crimes and an equivalent of murder? It is the murder of a girl’s
respect and her sanctity. It is said that other countries are abolishing death penalties
and we are moving towards them by punishing the criminals with death sentence.
It would be worthy to study the punishments that are awarded to the criminals
in countries such as the UAE in case of rape. Should our country adopt the same
policies I would not mind the convicts being awarded punishments similar to
those in countries such as the UAE instead of death penalties.
The sad part is that when we take a small step towards
development of a holy society it attracts criticism from different corners of
the same society. The court was in the right in awarding the 3 butchers death
sentence. Let there be light and the society have its justice.
