AIPWA and AISA Statement on Demands for Lowering the Age of Juvenility in Selected Cases of Rape
‘Treating Juveniles as Adults Will Not Deter Rape – Ensuring Justice in Every Rape Case Will Deter Rape’
AIPWA and AISA express concern at the outcry to lower the age of juvenility in selected cases of rape. We strongly oppose such moves, which are not in the interests of justice for women. We appeal to all to consider the facts, and to recognise the real issues that confront the struggles for justice in rape cases.
We would like to remind that the Justice Verma Committee rejected both death penalty and sending juveniles into the adult Courts and jails. The Committee, quoting extensively from studies of international experience, and praising the maturity of women’s organizations on the issue, noted: “We have heard experts on the question of reduction of the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16 for the purpose of being tried for offences under various laws of the country. We must confess that the degree of maturity displayed by all the women’s organisations, the academics and a large body of thinking people have viewed this incident both in the criminological as well as societal perspective humbles us….We are of the view that the material before is sufficient for us to reach the conclusion that the age of ‘juveniles’ ought not to be reduced to 16 years.”
There is a false hype being created that rape by juveniles is ‘increasing’. The fact is that juveniles are accused in a very small percentage of total rape cases. And of those cases, a very large proportion comprises of cases of consensual love among teenagers, in which parents of the girl have falsely filed ‘rape’ charges. Many of such boys tend to be from oppressed castes.
The ‘common sense’ logic is: ‘rape is an adult crime’, and if anyone is mature enough to rape, he should be mature enough to be punished. This is a mistaken understanding of the concept of ‘maturity’. Sexual impulses, and the ability to commit a murder or a rape, can develop in children as young as 10 years old. But the fact is that this ability does not signify ‘maturity.’ Based on scientific studies, it is now internationally accepted that in adolescents, the frontal cortex of the brain – called the CEO of the brain – that controls the ability to plan, take decisions, correctly assess risks and set long term goals, is not fully developed. This is why young persons must not be treated as adults.
Sadly, an argument is being constructed that we need a change in the law to allow us to selectively punish juveniles in some cases – i.e the cases which receive media hype and selective outrage. Our stance is that treating some rapes as ‘extraordinary’ allows us to treat most rapes as ‘ordinary’. The same BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who is demanding lowering of the age of juvenility in the December 16th case, is the one who is branding the 16-year old victim of Asaram as a liar!
We teach young boys in our society that ‘real’ rapes are committed by some ‘animals’ who deserve brutal punishment. But at the same time, the same young boys learn from adults that rape is no big deal. When police in Bastar rape a 14-year-old girl, they see no media or political outrage. They see the rapists of Dalit girls in Bhagana escape. They see how the rapists of Muzaffarnagar are treated as heroes and openly defended by a Minister (Sanjeev Balyan) in the Modi Government. They see how witnesses in the Asaram rape case are killed – and how thousands of his supporters openly propagate that the rape laws ‘break society.’ They see how the women who came forward to complain against Tejpal or Pachauri are blamed and shamed while the men they accused remain untouched by the law. So our young boys do not learn that rape is morally wrong and is a crime followed surely by punishment – instead they learn that some rapists are animals who deserve to be punished; while most rape complainants are liars; and most responsibility to prevent rape lies with women not with men. As long as our system and our society teaches these lessons, we cannot deter rape and sexual harassment.
The system has failed to deliver justice for most complainants who came forward to seek justice under the new rape laws. Yet those who rule the system – instead of implementing existing laws and ensuring justice in each case – prefer to divert attention towards yet another new ‘severe’ law.
Several studies have shown how in the US, sending juveniles in selected cases to the adult courts and jails has not deterred crime. Instead, it has deterred reform and encouraged the juveniles to become criminals. As a result of this experience, between 2005 and 2010, fifteen US states enacted laws to prevent young people from entering the adult criminal justice system.
What is needed is better reform and rehabilitation measures both for juvenile and adult offenders – such measures will make our society safer.
We repeat – do not make regressive changes in juvenile laws in the name of women. Implement existing laws and safeguard women’s freedoms.
