THE CRITICAL ISSUE. The spectre of death penalty

Swati Maliwal isn’t fasting any more. She’s happy that she has done something for Indian women: “someone had to come forward” she said. Really? I want to ask her. Do you really think no one has come forward before you?

The Prime Minister too isn’t fasting any more. Although he wasn’t on a fast to do something for victims and survivors of rape — in fact it took him quite a while to speak out about them, and even then, it was only when he had his back to the wall. But he’s happy that his government has speedily brought in an ordinance on the death penalty for child rapists.

Now that both these good people have done their bit, I’m guessing we will soon see a drop in the figures on child rape; we’ll soon see many hangings (the government has told the courts this is not a bad way to get rid of criminals), we’ll see many more men in prison for all of their natural lives, and our girls, our girl children can play and frolic in parks and open courtyards and they’ll be safe, because all rapists will be either dead or in jail.

I’m guessing we should be congratulating both Maliwal, the young woman who gave up a corporate career to do something more meaningful, and who says that since she took over the Delhi Commission of Women, she has taken on 12,000 cases.

Equally, we should be congratulating the President for so speedily clearing the ordinance and the Prime Minister for putting his weight and that of his party behind it, and indeed we should be warning them that if they don’t enact a law soon, Maliwal will once again go on a fast unto death.

Meanwhile, their political ratings are up, they’ve scored important points, they’ve taken up lots of space in the media. As for the girls and women, who really cares about them? They’ve effectively silenced them.

There’s a new serial on television, it’s called Har Shaakh Pe Ullu Baitha Hai (There’s an owl on every branch). It’s funny in bits, but it does an injustice to our politicians by comparing them to owls — those intelligent thinking birds. However, the truth of political machinations it describes is something all of us will readily recognise. In the serial, no one cares about the people, but there’s abundant posturing and playing to the media, an overriding eye to the main chance, and hubris at the belief that the politician is always right, and can get away with anything — something all of us will recognise.

That’s a bit like what is happening with this death penalty. When Maliwal says someone had to do something, and so she did, she forgets about the years of struggle activists in the women’s movement have put in to make the rape law more effective and more humane. 1983, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013…Does Maliwal even know about the incremental process of change, driven by feminist groups, that took place on these dates?

It’s feminists who have consistently held out against heavy sentences. They know that when the sentence is heavy the rapist gets away because the courts do not like to award heavy sentences. They also know that many — indeed most — sexual offenders are people known to the victim/survivor (true in both the Kathua and Unnao cases) and are often family members. Who will file a report against a family member, a father, a brother, an uncle, when you know that what awaits them is not punishment but death?

The courts asked the government if they had researched the effectiveness or the deterrent value of the death penalty before bringing in the ordinance. The response was a deafening silence. They didn’t ask Maliwal, but I have no doubt her response would have been the same.

I don’t suppose it’s much use saying this, the damage is now done. But none of the proponents of the death penalty have been able to cite the example of one country in the world where such a penalty has stopped, say, murders. Or rapes. Are people like Maliwal not aware of the real danger — that the spectre of the death penalty could well lead the perpetrator to kill the victim so that there will be no one to talk? On whose heads will those deaths be?

Like many other people, I too despair over these developments. There’s so much noise yet again about these terrible rapes, but no real commitment to changing things for the victims/survivors.

Perhaps the only ray of sunshine is that women, the survivors, are no longer willing to be silent. In Kathua, it was a woman lawyer who took up the child’s case. In Unnao, the young woman herself spoke up. This would not have happened 20 years ago. These are the small mercies to be grateful for.

Email: blink@thehindu.co.in

Urvashi Butalia

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