Hyderabad police encounter is going through a lot of criticism about human rights in the constitution. People are pointing out several questions calling it a planned murder. Some people are demanding a proper judicial procedure than this beyond law actions. However, the question arrises have the judiciary procedure gave proper justice to the victim to date? How many cases have been solved until now? And what does law say on the rape accused?
Why justice to rape victims is an unsolved problem?
A report said that there were more than 1000 cases that have happened in 2019 alone which did not see any judicial action taken on the rape accused. Whether its an imprisonment or a death sentence, justice was nowhere seen amongst all cases.
Violence against women has been a major issue in the news in recent years. The case that has been brought to light describes the awful condition of Indian women in terms of safety. There are several cases till now where justice has delayed showing its presence. Here are 10 such cases that prove that nothing has changed.
- 16th December 2012, a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern was beaten, gang-raped, and tortured by 6 men in a private bus in which she was traveling with her friend. It took more than 6 years for the judiciary to the upheld death penalty for all the victims.
- In 2017, a 17-year-old girl was raped and sold on the night of 11 June 2017 in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. The rape survivor was attacked several times and threatened to death. A few days ago the woman was on her way to a local court for a hearing on her rape case when just outside her village, five men poured kerosene on her and set her on fire.
- The Kathua rape case, an 8-year-old girl was raped and murdered in Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir. The accused were arrested and the trial began in Kathua on 16 April 2018 but the decision never came as early.
- A 19-year-old girl from Bihar was allegedly gang-raped by 6 men in front of her father. The justice looked nowhere near the victim and the case was not highlighted in the media.
12-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped and then beheaded by her 3 brothers and uncle in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district. No calls have been taken by the court till now. - A 20-year old woman was gang-raped and killed in Haryana’s Rohtak allegedly by her jilted lover and a friend. The men later smashed her face with a brick and killed her. No calls taken by court and justice went undone.
- A 5-year-old girl deaf and dumb girl was raped by a 24-year-old man in Varanasi. The alleged grabbed her and took her to a farm where he raped her until morning. The hapless girl who could not raise an alarm was found in the morning in a pool of blood in the field. The girl is now admitted to a hospital and the accused is not yet punished.
- A 45-year-old school owner was arrested for sexually exploiting his daughter for the last 7 years in Ghaziabad. The man had also filmed the acts where he would force himself upon her and would beat the daughter brutally if she resisted him.
- Two men rape 13-year-old in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur. The minor was raped when her parents had gone out to purchase medicines. The girl has been sent for medical examination and efforts are on to nab the accused.
- A woman in Ludhiana drugged her 16-year-old daughter so that her two other friends could take turns in raping her. The girl in her complaint said that her mother did this as revenge from her husband and her father who opposed her extramarital affair with a villager.
All the above cases have shown a major delay injustice or sometimes the accused is out on bail as the court did not give a final verdict. There are not just a few by hundred other cases that go unreported and unregistered. It s basically because of the vulnerability of justice. The judiciary couldn’t do much but postpone the cases which remained unsolved till now.
Time for a change in the law systemÂ
Coming to the encounter of all four accused in Telangana vet’s rape and murder case, the human rights group said police has taken law into their own hands. The very move to take the accused to the crime scene to reconstruct the crime at that time of the night apparently raises eyebrows. It is all and a planned murder, the human rights group claim. They have also demanded that an FIR should be registered against the cops.
Knowing the fact of delays made in the judicial system for a rape case, the human rights group must be asked if a criminal must be seen as a monster or a normal human being. Or is it important to watch into human rights treated to them?
The justice delivery is seen delayed because of gaping loopholes in the process like massive shortages of forensic labs, fast-track courts, and investigators, despite tall promises made by the government.
According to the National Judicial Data Grid, more than 48% of all criminal cases get delayed because accused or witnesses do not show up for hearings, leading to reformed delays. Trials then remain hampered at the stage of examination of evidence. Lacking legal evidence and botched-up investigations due to poor training have also been seen by courts as reasons for trial delays. Usually, courts are forced to free accused due to lack of adequate evidence or witnesses.
The encounter may not be the right thing. But, the judiciary has to improve in our country. Several families regret to file a case on court knowing it would lead them nowhere. Changing the law and providing a better justice to the victim, at least then the women in our country will feel free and secure.
