In the aftermath of the brutal rapes, there have been cries for a death penalty from political as well as civilian quarters. What is ironic is that this demand is being heard the most out of the political circles and its only aim is to deceive people. Do you really believe that rape is occurring because the law is not tough enough or the law is not acting as a deterrent?
If one scans through the data for the relationship between the rapist and the rape victim, the conclusion that comes out is a shocker. This could be her friend, her distant relative, her brother or in many cases even her father.
To give you some statistical evidence I refer to China. As is well known, the statistics that come out of China are subdued and altered for PR but nonetheless, have a look:
The “stranger” percentage stands out and hence one is forced to conclude that if a death penalty is put into place, the rapist would be deterred. And, you have already become biased.
As mathematically challenging as it might be, I request you to add up all the percentages in which the perpetrator was even slightly known to the victim. Let us try that:
General Acquaintance + Immediate Family + Love or Marriage + Friends, Classmates, Colleagues & Peers + Teacher-Student Relationship + Extended Family + Employment Relationship = 51.38%.
In a statement, the Commissioner of Police of Delhi, India said this year 178 rape accused were lovers or friends of victims while 115 were found to be neighbors, 15 employers or co-workers, 12 family members, 10 fathers and 2 step fathers, 9 husbands and ex-husbands, 9 brothers-in-law and 2 fathers-in-law, 8 landlords and 3 tenants.
Both these countries have death penalty for rape and China is known to execute thousands every year contrary to what the official statistics say. Yet, the heinousness of crimes against women have not gone down. China, where the execution is used more often has not been able to deter the rape. If one is to go by the media reports, the brutality of the rapes in increasing and so is the inactivity of the state officials. Therefore, the logic of the political class that a tougher law would act as a deterrent is not only ill founded but also divergent in nature.
I say divergent because the intention is not to stop the rapes or the crimes against women, the intention is to simply state a punishment that is grave in nature that it would tap into the emotions of the electorate. As soon as the public or the lesser enlightened hear the death row or castration, the game changes. The reaction is drawn out of the emotional frustration of the individual rather than from a true understanding of the sociological and psychological reasons that lead to rape.
Most importantly, have a look at the countries, which still have capital punishment: Afghanistan, Bahamas, Belarus, Botswana, China, Cuba, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Suriname, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tonga, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vietnam, Yemen.
Most of these countries have erroneous reputation when it comes to statistics for crimes against women. Most of these countries also have another common aspect: they have a culture, which promotes a close-knit family structure. Still it is a common knowledge as I have already mentioned that more than half or three-fourth of the rapes go unreported. The flaw of the whole thinking of death penalty for rape comes out.
The fact is that most of these cultures, which are proud of their close-knit family values, are also big on the pride and the honor of the families. Now, for example take India and Pakistan. The religions are such that the big brother is like a father and the father is the ultimate authority in such patriarchal systems.
In such a co-dependent society if a girl is sexually molested or sexually abused or raped by the father or the brother or a distant relative, then most of the times the girl would not report the matter.
Additionally, if the girl is a minor of only five or 6-years of age then in all probability she will not grasp the grotesqueness of the act until only much later in her life. However, by that time she has been scarred permanently psychologically.
The second scenario that is the most common and almost always subdued in discussions is the fact that the family itself forces the girl child or the woman to not report the rape. In such a scenario, the girl whose own mother or father is asking her not to follow up this matter and “forget it”. The moral support, which she has relied on for all her life is snatched in an incident and many girls are discouraged. Imagine the plight of a village girl, who her father has exposed all her life to people “licensed fit”. One of them rapes her and the father says that she ought to forget it to protect family’s honor. The second solid reason is that “who will marry you if you publicly accept that you were raped?”.
The girl has no way of figuring a way forward to get her perpetrator punished for a reason as simple as lack of exposure and lack of emotional support. It is highlighted in the thinking of men world over who blame woman for inviting rape.
Now, take the case of Saudi Arabia (S.A). Just to recall Saudi Arabia also has rape penalty and follows Sharia. Unfortunately, here too the rape victim has to pay double to price. First, the violation of her choice or as some say her “purity” and second, the ostracizing that follows.
I recently spoke to a native of that country and the crux of the discussion was that the women in S.A are happy. They do not complain about not being able to drive and the number of rape cases is on the low end. Here starts the game of the statistics. The game of reported and the unreported cases.
For those how do not know, women in Saudi Arabia cannot drive. Therefore, a related male, a blood relation or a distant relative, escorts the women. Not surprisingly, it is these male escorts who are mostly involved in crimes against women. However, since the perpetrator and the victim are related such matters never see the light of the day for a reason as simple as “honor” of the family.
Most importantly, if the death penalty is made mandatory in homicidal or non-homicidal rape cases, the number of rapes shall not decrease. The system is based on the reporting of the case and who will report a case if the conviction would lead to the death of a father or brother or son. Death penalty would not deter rapists; it would do the right opposite, it would deter rape victims from reporting the crime.
The acceptance needs to be there in the citizenry that the problem does not lie in the law. The problem lies in the implementation of law. The solution lies in better policing, speedy convictions, improving forensic sciences and enlightening young minds about the rights of women.
The need of the hour is to understand what really leads to rape. As the citizenry, we need to initiate this alternative political movement. In India, the average politician is 60 years of age. These same Indian parliamentarians are not willing to accept that marital rapes exist. Their defense for not acknowledging marital rape is that spurious cases shall pop up since there is no way of deciding on a marital rape case.
This is the true nature of a patriarchal parliament in a patriarchal society. The simple fact highlighted is that a woman cannot say “NO”. The other simple fact is that the death penalty is “NO”t the solution to the rape problem of the world. It is a deterrent for the rape victim, not for the rapist.
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