A string of rape cases in India has reignited debate over women’s safety and raised questions about why sweeping legal reforms and tougher punishments have failed to curb sexual violence.
“Overworked judges. Overworked cops. How will it work? This is a vicious cycle.
In that incident on Monday, three men posing as police officers allegedly gang-raped a 17-year-old girl in a public park in the heart of the capital city, according to authorities. The alleged assault on Monday followed the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found by police in a decomposed state, and the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl by a bus driver and a conductor who offered her a lift during heavy rain. One police station handles 200,000 to 300,000 people. India’s conviction rate for rape has remained largely stable since 2012, hovering at around a quarter of all cases that make it to trial.
Overstretched police forces and courts lack the means to investigate cases thoroughly enough, hindering the reforms’ impacts, criminal lawyer Shilpi Jain, who has represented survivors of sexual violence, told AFP.
Gang rape became punishable by at least 20 years in prison, and the death sentence was introduced for repeat rape offenders.
After the watershed 2012 case the woman is known nationally as “Nirbhaya” or “Fearless”, as Indian law does not allow the press to publish a rape victim’s name the government expanded the criminal definitions of penetration and consent.
If the case goes to the Supreme Court, then 20 years, so criminals lose fear of law and victims lose hope,” Jain said. “An average rape case takes seven to eight years.
