Sunday, December 20, 2015

On the uproar against the Juvenile assailant of Nirbhaya Murder case

On the uproar against the Juvenile assailant of Nirbhaya Murder case 

I completely agree that there needs to be radical change such that we identify when Juvenile should be treated as assault and some discretion should be given to judges to decide that. ( For example , a teenager killing another teenager in a fight should be treated differently than one killing infants ) 

However , we need to direct our wrath towards the Parliament and not the court. Parliament and the constitution decides what punishment should be given for what crime. If the Constitution defines that we treat somebody as a Juvenile if he is less than 18 years of age , then that needs to get amended. The point is Court is essentially correct in releasing the assailant , since it is following the constitution. 

Secondly , there have been more than thousand cases of Rape which either the accused or the guilty is Juvenile ( according to this link ). In most of such cases the assailant would have been given similar sentences in the recent past. The point is that just because this particular murder case got a great public attention , it is not correct to treat him more harshly than others. Public outrage should be against the system and not a particular individual , whenever such thing happens its more of a revenge than justice. 

Lastly , we can say that justice is served in Nirbhaya murder case. 
1. Most of the accused were given death sentences according to the Constitution. 
2. It took less than 2 years for the trial , this is indeed a fast track. ( Noting the notorious case of Salman Khan which took 13 years ). 
3. Various judicial committees were set up in wake of this , and which has suggested various amendments to the acts ( such as Juvenile justice act). We dont know whether those would really change anything however its a good first step.  
4. Also Juvenile was not the only assailant , and there is a good reason to argue that he would not have initiated the crime by himself. He knows what sentences have been given , had he been not lucky.  Hence , the juvenile did not get harsher sentence is no reason to cry foul.  

Although the juvenile does deserve a harsher sentence , we need to make sure that we answer the broader question. 

Other Sources : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Delhi_gang_rape

Update :
Two additional great Points when the bill was "discussed" in Rajya Sabha by Mr Shashi Tharoor
1. One isolated incident cannot be used as the sole example to Pass the law
2. It tries to address consensual sex amongst teenagers which NEED has to be discussed
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153002171473167&fref=nf

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