Rapists are described as "heinous, cold-blooded men" with a lunatic urge to control women by hurting them. But in sharp contrast is sober looking Narendra, 37, in Delhi's Tihar jail. He looks like an ordinary man, he could be your neighbour. "Rapists don't have filmi, violent looks," says O.P. Mishra, superintendent of the jail. Narendra is serving a seven-year sentence for raping the assistant of a doctor he used to visit when he worked as a medical representative. He shrugs in total denial of his crime. "I did not do it. I was framed." Is Narendra the product of a dysfunctional family who became an offender because of repressed sexual urges? Or is he someone blinded by rage and lust in a single overpowering moment? It could be either. Or neither. Like Narendra, rapists cannot be defined. His parting shot gives him away. "Sometimes women create situations where a man has no choice."
THE LAW on rapeSection 375 of the Indian Penal Code defines rape as "sexual intercourse with a woman against her will, without her consent, by coercion, misrepresentation or fraud or at a time when she has been intoxicated or duped, or is of unsound mental health and in any case if she is under 16 years of age." Section 376 defines the punishment for rape. If rape is proved then punishment can be up to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for raping an adult and up to 10 years for raping a minor. Criminal Procedure Code amendments have made all rape trials compulsorily in-camera (where only those directly connected are allowed) and where it is obligatory to protect the identity of the victim. Many years ago, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had promised that rapists would be given the death sentence. But the proposal remains what it was: a promise.
In India there is a rape every 54 minutes.
THE LAW on rapeSection 375 of the Indian Penal Code defines rape as "sexual intercourse with a woman against her will, without her consent, by coercion, misrepresentation or fraud or at a time when she has been intoxicated or duped, or is of unsound mental health and in any case if she is under 16 years of age." Section 376 defines the punishment for rape. If rape is proved then punishment can be up to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for raping an adult and up to 10 years for raping a minor. Criminal Procedure Code amendments have made all rape trials compulsorily in-camera (where only those directly connected are allowed) and where it is obligatory to protect the identity of the victim. Many years ago, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had promised that rapists would be given the death sentence. But the proposal remains what it was: a promise.
In India there is a rape every 54 minutes.
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