Crime against women & mediation
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 03 2015 -

The Supreme Court’s recent observation that a woman's body is her temple and there should be no mediation and no compromise in rape cases is significant in many ways.

The Apex Court’s observation followed increasing cases of crimes against women and children in the country and the failure of the authorities to take punitive action against such crimes.

However, the Supreme Court has also not spared the lower courts when the Apex Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra described the situation as a “spectacular error and lack of sensitivity on the part of a lower court which had allowed a rapist to go scot free by accepting an agreement on wedlock.”

He has observed that courts cannot take a soft approach on the issue and any approach of settlement in a rape case is against dignity of a woman.

Though the court’s observation came after hearing the Madhya Pradesh Government's plea challenging a lower court's acquitting a man accused of rape, it still has relevance to other states dogged by similar issues.

The Supreme Court’s order came a week after Madras High Court referred a case of a rapist, who was awarded seven years imprisonment by a trial court, to its mediation centre to settle the matter taking note of the future of the victim, now a mother of a child.

The High Court’s ruling had drawn flak with many legal eagles terming the order as "illegal" and "unwarranted".

It should be noted that the High Court’s order has given opportunity to a man found guilty by the trial court of raping a minor to "settle" the matter with the victim by mediation as "illegal", "unwarranted" and "unethical".

The criticism has been supported by legal luminaries across the country.

With such observation and support, now is the time for lower courts to act accordingly and the State authorities to take firm actions against those who commit sexual crimes against women and children.

When the judiciary is compelled to come down with such observation, the issue has to be dealt with firmly so that the rights of the women and children are not violated depending on the whims and fancies favouring the perpetrators.