Laws on Sexual Assault

Laws on Sexual Assault

Well, the gang-rape of a 23 year old girl, about which I had written a while ago (Death Penalty should be imposed for rapists or not ... ... ...) has apparently been a particularly gruesome crime. There have been multiple calls for suitable modifications in the laws pertaining to crimes against women. Justice Varma's report is due any time. Laws are likely to be made much stricter, and the entirely justified pressure from the public, the media, various political parties, etc. will ensure that the enforcement authorities also take crimes against women far more seriously.

However, we should not go overboard. Here's why:

• India has a population of around 1.25 billion, of which around 600 million are males. For argument purposes, let's assume that out of these, around 450 million males (after eliminating young boys below the age of 10 and men above 75) are capable of committing crimes against women.
• On an average, there are around 24000 reported cases of rape. Admittedly, far too many cases of rape go unreported. Let's assume that the claimed statistics (of 90% of rapes remaining unreported) about unreported cases is true, which results in 240,000 instances of actual rape. Let's further assume that there are an equal number of "attempted rapes" not resulting in actual rape. This translates into 480,000 culprits who deserve some sort of punishment. Let's round it off to 500,000 criminals.
• We must remember that even a SINGLE rape or attempted rape is certainly unjustified and ought to be punished. With the severity it deserves. The above statistics implies that we have 500,000 cases more than what is acceptable in a civilised society.
• It is equally important to remember the single-most important tenet of our judicial system: "Let a 1000 criminals go unpunished. Even a single innocent person should not be convicted."
• For the folly of 500,000 criminals, we should not, by mistake, punish even one of the remaining 449.5 million men. We're talking about 449,500,000 innocent men. Believe me, that's a very large number. If you wish to talk percentages, 99.95 percentage of the men are innocent as per this calculation.
• The vast majority of these 449,500,000 innocent men will routinely be
  • Using Public Transport (buses, share autos, trains, flights, etc.)
  • Periodically be having an interaction with a woman without the presence of any witness for completely routine transactions (Just look at the variety of human beings and you'll know what I mean: A farmer, a servant / servant maid, a plumber or electrician, a teacher or a student, a doctor or a patient, a lawyer, an actor, a grocer, a nurse, a sportsman, a media professional, a housewife, a pilot, an air hostess, a sales girl, a priest, a devotee, a politician, a corporate honcho, etc.) It is going to be physically impossible to prevent all these sources of interaction between men and women, even if some crazy people assume that such interaction is undesirable and is to be restricted.
  • There will be daily instances numbering several millions where there is physical contact between men and women during the course of such interaction. Well over 90% of the above will NOT be having any form of sexual undertones. Do we desire a situation where for the folly of .05% of men, 99.5% of men and 100% of women are living in a state of fear? I hope not.
• If we create a law with the potential to punish even a single innocent male or, worse still, create a law where there is a subtle shift in the burden of proof (from assuming innocence to assuming guilt), the consequences could be catastrophic. 

There happens to be a word called Perspective in the English language. Let's not forget that in the prevailing atmosphere which is baying for the blood of any person who is even accused of a crime against women.

Regards,

N

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