Page 67 - 31DEC2018E

COLUMN

Rape victims must not

be named and shamed

iolence against women and tanks in the streets, bombs or warlords. But
girls is among the most univer- they are killed slowly and the oppression
THE LAST sal and pervasive human rights starts innocuously. It begins with girl chil-
violations. And India, according
dren being locked up in their own homes.
WORD Reuters Foundation, is the most dangerous The unbalanced sex ratios at birth, even
V to a recent survey by Thomson
in educated and rich families, could be a
ABDUL WASEY country for females, worse than Syria, Iraq pointer to the patriarchal attitude of the so-
and the Congo. Sadly, the country, which ciety against women. In the name of teach-
among other form of violations has seen ing the essence of good womanhood, a girl
a huge spike in sexual assaults in past few child in general is trained to remain silent
years despite tightening of rape laws in even if she is violated. The government sur-
2013, is witnessing a new trend of naming veys show that about 42 per cent of girls in
and shaming the rape victims, even if they the country have been sexually abused.
are minors, and siding with the abusers. It’s not that nothing is being done to
In this backdrop, the latest decision of reduce assaults against females in the
the Supreme Court to bar media organisa- country. The country’s lower house of par-
tions and law enforcement agencies from liament passed a bill in July 2018 that will
disclosing the identity of sexual assault see the death penalty handed out to any-
victims is a step in the right direc-
tion. The country’s apex court has At times, victims
set guidelines, suggesting that the
names of victims cannot be used of rape are treated
at public rallies or on social media
platforms. worse than their
“Police or forensic authorities perpetrators. This
cannot disclose the names of rape
survivors either, even with the needs to stop,
consent of parents,” the Supreme says the Apex Court
Court verdict said. “Also, First
Information Reports of sexual
assault cases, especially those in- one convicted of raping a child under 12. In
volving minors, should not be put 2013, following the outrage over the rape
in the public domain.” and murder of a medical student aboard
The rape of minor girls, ac- a moving bus in the capital Delhi, the
cording to the National Crimes government announced that capital pun-
Records Bureau, increased by 82 per cent in ishment for those convicted of rape result-
2016 against the previous year. The number ing in death. Despite such stringent laws
of reported rapes of children, as per the of- being introduced, death is prescribed only
ficial crime data, rose from 8,541 in 2012 to in the rarest of rare cases — the interpreta-
19,765 in 2016. tion of which is left to the court. The coun-
This is ironic as Prime Minister Naren- try’s last execution was on 30 July 2015.
dra Modi had launched the national pro- The sexual assault victims, meanwhie,
gramme called Beti Bachao (Save Our Girls) are named and shamed, making their lives
in 2015. The initiative did little to curb large- even more difficult. The latest judgement,
scale human rights violation against the which bans naming and identifying rape
vast majority of India’s 650 million girls and victims, including those who had died, will
women of the country. surely come as relief for sufferers.
Agreed that women in India are trauma-
tised in less obvious ways. They don’t face LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

TEHELKA / 31 DECEMBER 2018 66 WWW.TEHELKA.COM
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