wereforcedto resignafterthe incid-
entcausednational andinterna-
tionaloutrage.
Therupturepointcamewhen,on
April9, lawyersin Kathuatriedto
prevent the CrimeBranchfromfiling
the charge sheet in court. The
JammuBarAssociationcalled for a
bandhandattackedthe victim’slaw-
yer Deepika Singh Rajawat and
brandedheran “anti-national”.She
movedtheSupremeCourtrequest-
ing it to transfer the caseoutsidethe
State.Theapexcourtgrantedher
requestandthecasewasshiftedto
Pathankot, about 30 kilometres
fromKathua.Everybody associated
withthe casewasundertremendous
pressure. In November,the familyof
the victimfiled a petition to remove
Deepika Rajawatfromthe case.She
wasnotonlyattackedby theHindu
Right,whoaccused her of beingpro-
Pakistan,butalsoby theMuslim
Right,wholeda whispering cam-
paignagainsther.Shetoldthe press
howherlifewasunderthreatand
evenafter theverdict in thecase
came,no onewaswillingto giveher a
houseon rentin Jammu.
ThetribalactivistTalibHussain
wasa prominentfacein thecam-
paignagainstthe accused.Butin Au-
gust2018,he wasarrestedafterhis
sister-in-lawfiled an FIRagainst
himaccusinghimof rape. Following
hisarrest,Talib’scousin,Mumtaz
AhmedKhan, movedtheSupreme
Courtallegingcustodial tortureof
Talib.Afterhis release,Talibjoined
the PDP.
Despite insurmountable prob-
lems,the trial court verdict was
hailed as just by people cutting
acrosspartylines. BothDeepika Ra-
jawatandTalib,whowereno longer
associated directly withthe case,
welcomed the verdict.FormerChief
Minister Mehbooba Mufti, too,
hailedthecourt’sdecision.Butsev-
eralpeople,including thevictim’s
parents, were unhappywiththelife
imprisonment handeddownto the
culpritsanddemandedthedeath
penaltyfor them.
Aroundthe timethe Kathuacase
cameto light, a rapecasein Unnao,
Uttar Pradesh, made headlines.
Sincepoliticalpartiesweremoreor
lessunanimousin theircondemna-
tionof bothcases,theLokSabha
immediately passed theCriminal
Law(Amendment)Bill.It increased
themaximumpunishment forthe
rapeof a girlchildunder10 yearsto
deathpenalty.In thecaseof gang
rapeof a childunder12, themin-
imumpunishmentbecamelifesen-
tence(earlier 20 years) whilethe
maximumwasdeathpenalty.
Despitetheeuphoria in theBJP
campthatcreditedPrimeMinister
Narendra Modiwiththepassing of
the Bill,severalvoicescautionedthatinsteadof moving towards improved
justicedeliverysystems, Indiawas
fallingbackto regressivemeansof
addressingcrimeandpunishment.
No matterthe severity of the crimeor
theamount of defencemountedfor
the criminalsor the depravity of the
perpetratorsthemselves,thedeath
penaltycouldnotbe a rallying point
forjustice,theysaid.Ratherthan
hangingcriminals, theyshouldbe
givena chanceto reformthemselves.
Thatwastheonlywayto weedout
thecrimeandensurelowercrime
ratesin society.
TheUnitedStates-based activist
MaryScullyarticulatedthisposition
by saying:“Many are expressing out-
rageoverthe verdict, andthe defence
willbe appealingtheverdictsbe-
causethe bruteswerenotsentenced
to death.All seven should certainly
be sentencedto life in prisonwithout
the possibility of parole,butevenin
thecaseof suchunspeakableviol-
enceagainsta child,thedeath pen-
alty remains a weapon of the
oppressorsandnot a suitableformof
justicefor the oppressed. Thereis no
possiblejusticeforthemonstrous
crimescommittedagainstthislittle
girl or for her familyandcommunity.
Bloodlust doesn’tcutit. To address
justice,we mustcommitourselvesto
activesolidaritywiththestruggles
against gender, ethnic, religious,
casteandclassoppression,andto the
struggles againstHindutva national-
ismandthemilitaryoccupation of
JammuandKashmir.” $SUB-INSPECTORAnandDutta, SpecialPoliceOfficerSurinder Kumarand
HeadConstable TilakRaj, chargedwithdestructionof evidenceandtakingbribes.
PTI