‘Even death a small punishment for a rapist’
Students of Awadh Girls’ Degree College advocate stringent punishment for rape. They also feel parents should teach boys to respect girls
LUCKNOW: The clamour for harsh punishment to those found guilty in rape cases is growing stronger and louder. In an interaction with Hindustan Times, students of Awadh Girls’ Degree College were all for awarding the most severe punishment to rape convicts.
“I would like to say that the people who commit gruesome acts such as rape should be given the most severe and cruel kind of punishments which act as a deterrent ,” said Ankita Mathur, a student of BA first year .
She added, “Moreover, the trial procedure should be faster and smoother. The punishment giving procedure should not be too long and the guilty should be punished immediately after the crime.”
According to Ankita, the development of a child begins at home. And if the environment at home is such that there is discrimination between boys and girls, in that case the onus rests with parents.
Her friend Vidushi Agarwal said all rapists should be hanged to death. According to Vidushi, death is a very small punishment to be given to a person who has committed a crime which can never be forgiven. Even the culprit’s death would offer little solace to the victim, she said .
She argued, “The criminal should be tortured to make him feel the same pain...in foreign countries the punishment for such a crime is really fair I.e. their private parts are brutally cut so that nobody will dare to commit such a crime after they know the consequence.”
“In our country the trial goes on for years, the legal battle is long drawn and is tedious. So sometimes girls do not file complaint against the rapist too which is not good. In fact, boys should be taught that girls are no less than them and their teaching should begin from home. Parents should teach boys how to protect and respect girls ,” Vidushi said.
Fiza Ibrahim of MA first year stressed upon the fact that there was a growing need for social conditioning of the child from the very beginning. “There should not be any gender discrimination in the family and both boys and girl should be treated equally,” she said.
Shweta Banaudha and Shivani Kanaujiya were of the view that punishment for rapists should be stringent and act as deterrent for others.
Ankita added, “It is said that in the family the boys are not taught to respect girls. Also when boys see their father ill treating their mothers, obviously they feel that girls are a plaything in the hands of boys.”
According to Ankita, the main problem of society is that girls are thought of as a liability and boys are considered as assets. “Girls are always looked down upon. Moreover there are a lot of restrictions in a girl’s life. Parents or elders always tell them to behave in a certain way, to not wear certain clothes, to not go out of the house after evening, and to not raise their voice against any wrong done to them. But there is no such check on boys,” she rued.