Justice Verdict : 51 slaps in Public for a Rapist

The justice system in our country whether it’s concerning law procedures or about the final outcome, everything is so perplexing and un-predictable that it becomes tricky for a common man to understand it.

Couple of weeks back, Imrana’s victory verdict made headlines of all main-stream newspapers. After a year-long struggle period, Imrana with her conviction managed to get her rapist (her father-in-law) convicted and above all stood strong against the appalling decision taken by the local Muslim Community Panchayat who had asked her to treat her rapist as her husband and had declared her marriage with Nur Ilahi as illegal, since the rapist was her father in-law.

I found the stance taken by the local panchayat was not only disturbing but to me it also high-lighted the existence of gender in-equality in our country even in the 21st century and inspite of so much effort and money spent by the State and the Government to curb this problematic situation.

And then today morning, I read this.

A man in northern Indian will receive 51 slaps in public after village elders found him guilty of raping a neighbor who is deaf and dumb, a village chief said on Friday.

The elders stepped in to review the case because local police failed to arrest the accused after a complaint was filed by the victim’s husband, village head Badr-ul Hasan said.

A village court, comprising five elders, heard from both sides on Wednesday. It found the man guilty, fined him 5,000 rupees (US$110, euro90), and ordered he be publicly slapped with an open hand 51 times, he said.

On the other hand, the official people responsible for acquiring justice for the victim are still looking for good-enough reasons to even register a complaint.

Police inspector C.N. Singh said officers were still investigating her complaint.

“A case will be registered only if police find proof that the woman was raped. We are inquiring from children who were playing in the field then,” Singh said.

Since the victim (a mother of three) is deaf & dumb and therefore is in-capable of narrating her gruesome ordeal, the police are taking it as a good enough reason to not take her complaint seriously. And therefore the village court was compelled to step in and take the matters in their own hands.

Even though a mere compensation of couple of thousands of rupees and public humiliation by waking the rapist 51 times sounds to little compared to the horrendous crime and its impact on the victim - I am glad that atleast something has been done and its good to hear that for once the Local Panchayat has sided with the needy and not the guilty.

And hopefully the rapist will also be trailed and suitably punished the official way also.

• Culture, Government, India, New Age Thinking, News, Women
• Share This
• Leave a comment