What punishment to the rapists?

The protests witnessed in the last few days in the aftermath of the rape of a young girl in a moving bus Delhi is anything but an expression of anger against the government which has ceased to think about the common man but only thinks about 'game-changers' and quota- calculations even if such calculations go against the over-all welfare of the country. If there is a slightest inkling that the protesters are potential 'game-changers', then perhaps the government would take this issue seriously. As of now, the government seems to think that rape is just like any other crime and there is no need to make a big fuss about it. Soon we may even hear Shinde telling us that rape cases are less by so many percentages than all the crimes recorded this year.

Already we heard him tell us that he too had daughters – something repeated by the Prime Minister.  Even we have daughters. By a rough calculation almost 90% of the population must be having daughters. But the difference is that our daughters are exposed to greater risk than the daughters of Shindes and Singhs.

The most appalling feature of the rape of the Delhi girl is that it happened in a bus! Millions of daughters of this country are dependent on these buses. Most parents think that it is safe for their daughters to travel in a common place mode of transport like a bus than in a private cab because the presence of general public around ensures a kind of safety. The rape-incident has shown that the bus you board from a bus stand believing that it would take you to your place is no longer safe. This is what disturbs every citizen of this country. The daughters of Singhs and Shindes are not exposed to this 'hazard' of the bus. How-much-ever they say that they too have daughters, it would not cut the ice as long as they don't experience the anxiety of a parent in sending out their daughters.

The next issue that disturbs one in the wake of the unfortunate incident involving that innocent girl is that there is no guarantee that the government would punish the rapists. Even if the rapists are given death sentence, it takes no time for them to commute it to a lesser sentence. That is what happened with the 4 cases of rapists whose death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment by none other than a woman President, Pratibha Patil.

The malady behind this is that the powers that be think that there must be a 'rarest of the rare' reason to give a death sentence to the rapist. Shinde repeated it inspite of all the outrage expressed recently. Does he have any definition for what makes a crime the 'rarest of the rare' one?  Perhaps the former justice Markandeya Katju had an explanation for this when he said that rape is not the only problem of India as there are other problems like farmer suicides, mal-nourishment, unemployment, rising prices and lack of health care and education. The most unfortunate thing is that this man, a former Judge missed a vital difference between a rape and other maladies he mentioned. All the maladies he mentioned are caused by lack of material sources, but a rape is caused by lack of values!

A country of rapists and a country where a woman cannot even have safe ride in a bus, leave alone a walk down the street at mid night as dreamed by the Mahatma, is a sign of a decaying values of the people. Suicides can be stopped, castles can be built, children can be fed, jobs can be given, but the Delhi incident cannot be stopped unless the people are taught values. We are hearing lot of noises of how repression, suppression, poverty and what not make the person to become a rapist!! One may be poor, have no means of livelihood, but one must not lose character – this is what our ancestors – Hindu ancestors have taught us. The country and its Government of today have forgotten this main teaching – a teaching for humanity – but is making quotable quotes on rarest of rare cases. A country of people who have no grooming in values is a decaying country. This is what Singhs, Shindes and Katjus seem to be comfortable with.

The decay is in the power corridors itself. The so-called youth-icon of the Congress party did nor utter a word on this incident, even as people were expecting him to speak. How can he speak when he himself was implicated in a rape case? How can anyone from the Congress party take sides with values particularly when it comes to women, with Abhishek Singhvis and N.D. Tiwaris filling up its rank? The overall value system is at its death bed with this party at the helm. All the ills of the country can be traced to the kind of culture that the Congress party has been perpetuating for more than half a century. They can do anything to make sure that they remain in power – this is the only mantra for the Congress party. As of now they think that the outrage on rape is not a 'game changer'. They have a reason to believe so; they have already seen that the Mumbai terror attack did not become a game changer in the elections. According to the Congress party, this will also go some day and be forgotten. We, the people of India have given them that much hope – perhaps this also tells how value-less we are!

Coming to the issue of what must be done to the rapists, I am for stringent punishment – even death sentence – as a punishment and a deterrent.  I don't buy the argument that it would make the rapist kill his victim. If this is to be believed then it means that our police are inept in catching the murderers. It is not easy to escape after murdering as it would leave its own imprints that would lead to the capture of the culprit. Unless a murder is planned by the rapist, it is not so easy to escape capture. Moreover not every criminal can carry out a murder. Crime psychologists say that it is not easy for a person to murder someone. In the Delhi rape case too, the rapists who were in good numbers could have killed the victims before throwing them out. By that they could have effectively erased vital proofs for identification. But they didn't do that because they could not think of killing them. Killing does not come so easily, unless a person has some inner nature to do that.

The same cannot be said for the rapist. A rapist springs up when there is an opportunity for it. In today's world there are many opportunities and a rapist too can create opportunities. That urge to create and use an opportunity must be discouraged. Nothing less than a death sentence could discourage a potential rapist. Castration is not a safe solution, because in that case the culprit's hurt feeling and criminal mind are still active. Nothing stops him from pouncing on others and harm others in some way by which his pent up anger could find an outlet. Castration makes him dangerous and a hazard to the society.

Value lesson is what is needed to make people behave properly. Any value- lesson comes with a result attached to it. What one gets when one behaves well or does not behave well must be made clear. Any parent would know very well how this works in teaching values to their children. The same applies to rapists too. A potential rapist must know that he would pay with his life if he commits the crime. That would act as a deterrent.

Violating a woman's modesty is the rarest of the rare crime. Even a casual look at the culture of our country would show how much value was attached to the modesty of a woman. The two great Epics of India took place only to protect the modesty of the women. The punishment in both the cases was death!

There is no mincing of words when it comes to which side one has to stand by where violation of a woman's modesty is concerned. Ramayana was centred around the plight of Sita who was abducted with malicious desire. Even those who sided with the culprit met with death. Similarly Mahabharata was centred around Draupadi, whose dignity was violated by the people who must have protected her. Ultimately the perpetrators of the crime and those who supported them found their fall. The perpetrators might have had hundred reasons for what they did – similar to what our human –right activists are saying in support of the rapists for why they committed such crimes, but that does not diminish the intensity of the crime.

Crime against women is one of the worst crimes that cannot be pardoned nor propitiated.  It is one among 4 crimes that come under the same category of no-pardon. Bheeshma say this in Shanti parva (chapter 107) "We have never heard that these four, viz, he who injures a friend, he who is ungrateful, he who slays a woman, and he who slays a preceptor, ever succeed in cleansing themselves."The rapist commits a sin equal to killing the woman. Or I don't know whether Shinde is waiting for the woman to die to brand this rape as the rarest of the rare case!

This country had come a long way giving utmost importance to the honour of the woman and connecting that to the honour of the family. Ours was a country of brave women who jumped into fire to escape molestation in the hands of the invading Muslims. So many families are extinguished even now, unable to bear the crime committed on the woman of the family. In such a scenario, it is really a silver lining that the girl had come forward to tell it to the world. If we don't take up this now and bring an end to the menace, we are not at all civilised people. By asking for death penalty to the rapist, we are not being uncivil, but only bringing out a disciplinary tool to sensitise a potential rapist of the future.

Looking at what Dharma sastras say for punishing the rapist, one will be surprised to know that there does not exist any punishment for the rapist - as far as I know.  But there exists many types of punishment for adultery, after marriage. One reason could be that girls were married before puberty until a century ago and that coupled with a safe home environment for the girl left no scope for rape. However adultery was not spared of severe punishment. The punishment or retribution for adultery or any offence on sex was dependent on the extent of suffering that such an act caused.

Applying those parameters to the Delhi rape-victim, the rapists must pay for not only their dastardly act, but also for the physical and mental pain that the victim is undergoing, that her family is undergoing and the people of India are undergoing. So many people shed tears on hearing of this crime, so many people felt sad, so many people became anxious and outraged – the cause of all this is traced to the rapists. They had to pay for all this collectively. In the days of kings, severe punishment as slow and painful death was meted out to the culprits. Today all that is rejected in the name of civility. But Eternal justice system cannot show such mercies. Whatever negativities are created by the rapists to the victim and millions of others had already made their imprint in the intangible energies of Nature that they would come back to the culprits in their future births. It would take not less than 3 births to pay off what they did now.

As far as sexual act like this is concerned, the perpetrator will suffer from Raktha-arbuda -   blood cancer in his future birth. Speaking on Karma Vipaka – on what happens to one who commits such and such a crime, illicit sex makes one suffer from Raktha- arbuda, according Narada.

Karma vipaka samhitha chapter 16 says that one who enjoys Para sthree (woman other than his wife) will get a fate as follows:

"परस्त्रीलम्पटो देवि स्वभायाम पवरमुच्य च। एिं बहुगते काले कालिश्यस्ततोऽभित्॥४॥

Hei Devi, He was unchaste and not at all interested in his wife. The days passed by and he died. ||4||

यमज्ञया यमदूतैनमरके नाम कदममे। िासयामास भो देवि षवििषमसिस्त्रकम्॥५॥

According to the instruction of Yamaraja he was put into a hell called Kardama where he was punished and tortured for 60,000 Years. ||5||

नरकावनःसृतो देवि कुक्कुटत्वं प्रजायते। ततो यातो मिादेवि नरयोवनं च दुलमभाम्॥६॥

As he got out of the hell he took birth as a Hen and after that he attained Manushya Janma. ||6||

पाणडुरोगेण संयुक्तः पुत्रो नैि प्रजायते। िेश्याः कन्ाः प्र्जयन्ते पुत्रस्य मरणं भिेत्॥७॥

He will suffer from Pandu Roga (Leucoderma) and he will not beget sons. In case he begets a son, the son will die and daughter will be born and she will become a prostitute. ||7||"

 

The following is from Brihad samhita by Varahamihira (Chapter 74):-

"In the eye of the Sastras, adultery in man and woman is equally condemned. Man neglects this condemnation, while women respect it. Hence the superiority of women over men. (12)

According to Sastras, a man that commits adultery shall dress himself in the skin of the ass with the hairy side without and beg his meals for six months for purification. (13)"

The kind of violation that a woman is prone to, had made Manu to declare that she be protected by her father, husband and son in the 3 stages of her life. It is because that she is vulnerable for this kind of violation by men, Arjuna threw down his bow and refused to go on war at the last minute. Even though Arjuna said that it was not possible for him to fight against his grandfather and other relatives, he ultimately pointed out the violation to sthree-dharma that could be caused in the wake of a war.

As a result of the war, many men would die. This would leave many women lose their husbands. The widowed women would become the easy prey for others by which the Kula dharma and Sthree dharma would come under peril. Arjuna who had a strong reason to fight the war to avenge the dishonour meted out to his wife, Draupadi decided to give up fighting so that countless women were not thrown up into a situation where their modesty would be threatened. Even if ruler-ship of three worlds were given to him, he was not ready to fight due to this reason. The one who becomes a direct or an indirect cause for such violation of Sthree dharma is bound to suffer without any scope for reprieve. Arjuna knew it and therefore refused to become a cause until he was convinced by Krishna to do otherwise.

Today with no thought on what Dharma is and how Dharma operates, Shindes, Katjus and Partibha Patils want to play soft on the rapists. But Eternal Justice has its rules well laid out and sticks to them with precision. The problem is for the persons who play it soft on the culprits – particularly with selfish motives of politicking. Like Kumbhakarna who fell with Ravana, or Karna who fell with Duryodhana, they too would have to pay the price in the scheme of Eternal Justice. It certainly matters on which side of Dharma you are in. A lesson on values as taught by Dharma is needed for these politicians too!