At last justice has been handed over to stalker who killed a nurse in Bandra attack. This is a landmark verdict and it is the first one for such heinous crime. Court hands awarding capital punishment is an eye opener. All along people commit such crimes and wander without severe punishment. This verdict has given the feeling that the acid attack is cruel than rape and stringent action must be taken against the culprit. Castration for committing offences like rape and acid attack is an option open for long time and now death penalty is being awarded for the stalker. It is a right step in the right direction and women can show self-confidence after the landmark verdict and from now on stalker must exercise restraint as they cannot go scot free after committing the crime.
Punishment or castration would be a short-term solution. Agreed, severe punishment for rape would send a chill down the spine of criminals but a culprit will eventually figure out ways of saving himself from punishment. What our society needs is moral education. It is we who have corrupted the value system. Let us take responsibility for our acts and make efforts to correct the system. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, a woman is raped every 20 minutes in India. Many sociologists and social commentators have attempted to analyse the various factors that could be leading up to this alarming rise in the number of rapes. Is it time to award severe punishment for such crimes?
What has led to a growing number of acid attacks on women is that the law to protect acid attack victims was weak until it was amended recently. What is worse is victims if only disfigured are not even acknowledged as physically disabled. This means that they are denied jobs etc. reserved for the disabled which otherwise could have provided some relief to them. Just like rape laws, even acid attack laws should be made more stringent. The law states the person should be 40 per cent or more handicapped to be eligible for a reservation. But they do not include acid attack victims in this list. However even laws to ensure inclusion and accessibility to the differently abled are often flouted by both government and private establishments. Women are considered as sex objects. Once women reject men’s advances they try to disfigure their face by throwing acid. It is time to get tough with people opting for acid use in public places. Its use should be restricted for domestic purposes and not for violent activities.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
