Crime against women and issues of Law & Order

Crime against women and issues of Law & Order (07 Mar 2015 AIR News Analysis)

Participants: Amit Kelkar, SC Advocate and Satya Prakash, Legal editor Hindustan times

Nagaland – Angry mob - Demapur jail – Farithkhan (Acquittal of Rape case) – beaten to death; similar incident in Varanasi. What is behind this trend?

Lack of legal literacy among the common – poor understanding of criminology – poor understanding of jurisprudence “law is does not believe in taking revenge – it is for prevention or deterrence – two aims of the legal system” Aims is not to finish the criminal, it is to finish the crime;

Judicial process Vs mob justice? In Other the other hand alleged rapes – 35% increase compared to 2013 level – also other crime against women increased more than 156%. Socio-Economic-Education factor stand reason for such crime rates? What are the other reasons behind it?

Deterrent is not created – because of the severity of the punishment – by the surety of the justice – law will be able to detach grave from the shaft or will be able to differentiate the guilty; only by having surety of punishment; real concept of masculinity – to follow certain principle, not to be lustful, not to seek shortcuts; 

Contradiction in the society – Shakthi/Kali, Saraswathi, Lakshmi – both they never treat their mother, wife or daughter in such manner;

Legal system of India is cheapest – stable system; but it has many scopes for improvement; whole system cannot be contemned – it protect the fundamental and human rights of the society; The defect does not diminish the entire system;

Competency of the judges? Judge population ratio – 13/14 judges per million populations; Insufficiency – judicial pendency?

Untrained/ill-trained police – lack of essential forensic laboratory – training on latest technology;

Are Fast tract courts a solution for Nirbhaya type of cases?

Making the justice deterrent – sensitizing the judges on Gender justice; SC verdict – directed all the states to ensure security of women in all public places;

Police cannot be omnipresent – they have to be augmented, trained;

Nagaland incident could be the catalyst for the change;