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Mahesh

26/08/24 14:49 PM IST

Justice Verma panel on death penalty for rape

In News
  • The Justice J.S. Verma Committee recommendations, which led to the amendment of criminal laws in 2013, had specifically said it was not inclined to recommend the death penalty for rape even for the rarest of rare cases.
Union Cabinet decision
  • The Union Cabinet did not take the recommendation on the death penalty when it cleared an ordinance on sexual assault in 2013, and signed the criminal amendments into law.
  • The committee to amend criminal laws was set up after the gang rape of a paramedic student in Delhi on December 16, 2012. Led by Justice J.S. Verma (retired), the committee submitted its recommendations on January 23, 2013.
  • One of its key suggestions, that the death penalty does not necessarily act as a deterrent against such crimes, was overlooked.
  • Key amendments were brought in to provide the death penalty for rape that led to death of the victim or reduced her to a persistent vegetative state (Section 376A of the Indian Penal Code) and anyone found guilty of rape more than once (Section 376E).
  • In 2018, further changes introduced death as the maximum punishment for every participant in a gang rape when the victim is less than 12 years old (Section 376DB), and life-long imprisonment if the victim is less than 16 (Section 376DA).
  • Under the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, punishment for rape is laid down in several Sections including 64, 65 and 70(2), which notes the punishment for gang rape of a woman under the age of 18 is the death penalty.
Verma Committee recommendations
  • The Justice Verma Committee provided for enhanced sentences for rape, increasing it from 7 years to 10 years, 20 years, and life, but “short of death”.
  • “Whoever causes the person to be in a persistent vegetative state, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years, but may be for life, which shall mean the rest of that person’s natural life,” it noted.
  • The committee pointed out that “there is considerable evidence that the deterrent effect of death penalty on serious crimes is actually a myth.
  • According to the Working Group on Human Rights, the murder rate has declined consistently in India over the last 20 years despite the slowdown in the execution of death sentences since 1980.” 
  • The Verma Committee recommended that the exception to marital rape be removed, pointing out that “a marital or other relationship between the perpetrator or victim is not a valid defence against the crimes of rape or sexual violation.”
  • Concurring with the judgment of the European Commission of Human Rights in C.R. vs U.K., the Verma Committee endorsed the conclusion that a rapist remains a rapist regardless of his relationship with the victim.
  • The Union government did not go by this recommendation and refused to criminalise marital rape.
  • Under the BNS, exception 2 of Section 63 states that “sexual intercourse or acts by a man with his wife, the wife not being under 18 years of age, is not rape.”
Gender rights
  • The Verma Committee pointed out that “the ethos of empowerment of women does not limit itself to political equality, but also extends, in equal terms, to social, educational, and economic equality.
  • If true empowerment of women were to mean anything, it is necessary that law, as well as public policy, must be capable of engaging substantially with women’s rights, opportunities, acquisition of skills, the ability to generate self-confidence and insist on total equality in relationships, both with society and the state.”
  • The correction of social mindsets of its gender bias depends more on social norms, it observed, noting that “the deficiency has to be overcome by leaders in society aided by the necessary systemic changes in education and societal behaviour.”
Source- The Hindu

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