Child rape cases: Why introduction of the death penalty is not a great move

About 18-20 per cent of child rapes occur in the family and 50 per cent in an institutionalised setting, according to a study

The government promulgated an ordinance last week that provides the death penalty to anyone who rapes a child under 12. But about 90 per cent of child rape cases were pending trial in India in 2016, no more than 28 per cent of such cases ended in conviction, and there is a 20-year backlog in bringing cases to trial, the latest  national crime data show.

These data indicate the move to prioritise a change to legislation that allows courts to grant the death penalty to rapists of children will not bring quicker or better justice because there is no plan to address conviction failures and court delays.

There were 19,765 reported child rapes in India in 2016, or 54 every day, under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences  (POCSO) Act — an increase of almost 6 per cent compared to 2014 when 18,661 cases were reported.

Madhya Pradesh reported the most , 2,467 (13 per  cent), child rapes in 2016, followed by Maharashtra (2,292 cases, 12 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (2,115 cases, 11 per cent).  Sikkim reported the highest rate of rape, 32.5 rapes per  100,000 children, followed by Mizoram (26.7) and Delhi (14.5), as against the national average of 4.4.

About 18-20 per cent of child rapes occur in the family and 50 per cent in an institutionalised setting, according to a 2013 paper published in the journal Psychological Studies.

Offenders were known to the victims, both women and girls,  in 94 per cent of the rape cases reported in 2016, NCRB data show. Most of them (29 per cent) were neighbours, followed by ‘known persons on promise to marry the victim’ (27 per cent) and relatives (6 per cent); 30 per cent were other known people.

The introduction of a death penalty for child rape could have a negative effect on reporting, as families fear ostracisation and legal consequence for family members.

“The introduction of the death penalty is not a great move. In the family these cases will not be reported, so many of these things happen by known people, the community will protect them,” Flavia Agnes, women’s rights lawyer and co-founder of MAJLIS, a Mumbai-based organisation that provides legal initiatives for women, told IndiaSpend.