In the midst of what many Indians believe is a sexual assault crisis in their country, India’s Supreme Court has ruled that a rapist cannot have his sentence reduced by agreeing to marry his victim.
The extraordinary judgment was handed down late on Tuesday in response to an appeal by two convicted gang rapists who sought to reduce their 10-year prison sentences on the basis that their victim had since married and had four children.
The three-judge bench found that “rape is not a matter to be left to the parties to compromise and settle”, and that there was “every chance” a victim could be pressured into an agreement.
“This court has in the past noticed that a few subordinate and high courts have reduced the sentence of the accused to the period already undergone to suffice as punishment”, by taking into account such considerations, the bench said.
“Religion, race, caste, economic or social status of the accused or the victim, or offer of the rapist to marry the victim, or the fact that the victim is married and settled in life, cannot be construed as a special factor for reducing the sentence prescribed by the statute.”
Though the ruling was welcomed by women’s groups yesterday, the fact that such an appeal should even be heard within India’s judicial system has highlighted how far the country’s women still are from securing full protection of their rights under the law.
A rape is said to be committed every 20 minutes in India. Deals brokered by police or village panchayats (councils), which force a woman to marry her rapist in order to save her honour and preserve community harmony, are common.
Just this week, Indian media reported that a family in Uttar Pradesh complained of pressure from police to drop rape charges and agree to have their daughter marry her attacker.
Last December, a 17-year-old girl who was gang-raped in the state of Punjab killed herself after police tried to pressure her into marrying one of her rapists, or accepting compensation in lieu of pressing charges.
"This happens very often as a way for the rapist to avoid a harsher sentence,” a spokeswoman for advocacy group Jagori told The Australian yesterday.
But even if they marry the woman it’s not like there’s a guarantee she will be safe.
“Men can do whatever they like after that.”
