Rape and Politics

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability, or is below the legal age of consent. It is means of intimidation and control which function to perpetuate the subordinate status of women, and now, children in patriarch societies.

In particular, an 11-year-old girl’s dead body was found in a waste bin with 80 wounds in Gujarat. Rape is an anti-social, cruel, heinous activity where protesters are mostly women by candle-light marches, slogan-raising in market squares. The participation of men are rarely seen, and this attitude is very unfortunate, irresponsible, highly atrocious committed against innocent girls.

As per the Prime Minister of India, Rape is Rape; do not politicise it (said on Thursday 19th April 2018 during his London trip). Rape is the most heinous crime committed against women in India. According to the National Crime Report Bureau’s 2013 annual report, 24,923 rape cases were reported across India in 2012. Out of which 24,470 were committed by someone known to the victim. A total of 34,651 cases of rape were reported in India in 2015. Out of these, in 33,098 cases the offenders were known to the victims, revealed the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. When rape is classified under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, why the Government is not taking strict actions against the perpetrators?