Supreme Court calls for stringent punishment for rape

New Delhi: It has to be borne in mind that rape is basically an assault on the human rights of a victim. It is an attack on one’s individuality, which creates an incurable dent in the victim’s right and free will and personal sovereignty over the physical frame. Everyone, in any civilised society, has to show respect for the other individual and no individual has any right to invade another’s physical frame in any manner, the Supreme Court has observed calling for stringent punishment for rapists.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant said, “Rape is not only an offence, but such an act creates a scar in the marrows of the mind of the victim. Anyone who indulges in a crime of such nature not only does violates the penal provision of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) but also the right of equality, right of individual identity and in the ultimate eventuality an important aspect of rule of law which is a constitutional commitment.”

Writing the judgment, Justice Misra said, “The Constitution of India, an organic document, confers rights. It does not condescend or confer any allowance or grant. It recognises rights and the rights are strongly entrenched in the constitutional framework, its ethos and philosophy, subject to certain limitation. Dignity of every citizen flows from the fundamental precepts of the equality clause engrafted under Articles 14 and right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, for they are the fon juris of our Constitution. The said rights are constitutionally secured.”

Calling for stringent punishment, the bench said no misplaced sympathy must be shown to the perpetrators of such a crime. Regarding the gravity of the offence, reduction of sentence indicating any imaginary special reason would be an anathema to the very concept of rule of law.

The perpetrators of the crime must realise that when they indulge in such an offence, they really create a concavity in the dignity and bodily integrity of an individual, which is recognized, assured and affirmed by the very essence of Article 21 of the Constitution.

In this case the Bench said the material brought on record clearly reveal that Parhlad, first cousin of the father of the prosecutrix, in the absence of her parents at home had asked her to go with him for harvesting wheat crop to village Rupana Ganja and accordingly she had accompanied him to the residence of his accomplice, who is the maternal uncle of Parhlad.

The prosecutrix has deposed that she was in a totally helpless situation and despite her resistance she was sexually abused. The mental and physical condition of a young girl under the dominion of two grown up males who had become slaves of their prurient attitude can be well imagined, the bench said and dismissed an appeal filed by them against the sentence of 10 years imprisonment imposed on them by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.