Today, the Telangana Police may have killed the accused in the Hyderabad case in an encounter, but for the last few days, the manner in which the case has provoked people is not hidden from anyone. People are, once again, questioning the government about the safety of women and demand to enact more stringent laws against rape has found a new voice. In such a situation, the government now has a good chance to further tighten all the provisions in Section 376 of the IPC which are related to punishing the culprits of rape.
Under the IPC, Rape is defined 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 18 years of age.”
As per an article by Business Standard, the provision for punishment under Section 376 is as following: “Except in certain aggravated situations, the punishment will be imprisonment of not less than seven years but it may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine. In aggravated situations, punishment will be rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 10 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.”
Nowhere in this section, there is a provision for the death penalty for the guilty. The government is yet to change this section and make provision for the death penalty for the culprits. If the government imposes ‘Capital Punishment’ for the heninous crimes such as rape, the cases of such crimes might drop.
The Section 376 has many other problems like- Only intercourse against women against her will is defined as rape while that forced sex with men have no place in our criminal jurisprudence, which is another case of ‘Victorian morality’.
The government is already considering a change in the IPC. In the Rajya Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on December 4 that we are working for changes in CrPC and IPC. The Central Government has also written letters to the state and union territories in this regard. The government has formed a committee to change the CrPC and IPC.
As per a government official, “After it was framed, the IPC has never been amended in totality. Some additions and deletions have been made.”
With this, the Home Ministry is all set to herald a much awaited and much needed change in the criminal jurisprudence of the country. The fact remains that the IPC is replete with provisions which were enacted in the historical context of the interests of the British Raj, while some provisions are signs of the ‘Victorian Morality’ which we need not carry in our statute books any longer.
The provisions of the IPC were enacted keeping in view the interests of the British Raj at that time in mind. Therefore, mere judicial interventions and legislative interventions, in the form of amendments cannot really serve the purpose of reconciling it with today’s context. In order to make the Penal Code relevant, there is a strict need to revamp the Code as is being suggested by the Home Ministry.
The issue with the IPC has not just been the colonial hangover associated with it. The issue is further aggravated by the lack of its efficacy as it has remained largely unchanged since 1860 when it was introduced. The fact remains that the legislature has resorted to Local and Special laws in order to combat emerging categories of crimes such as terrorism, drug offences, cybercrimes, etc.
The IPC is the Penal Code of the country and like any other “Code”, it should be a complete law and exhaustive in itself. Enactment of other laws dealing with special categories of offences and an incomplete Penal Code serves no real purpose. The Ministry of Home Affairs led by Amit Shah has therefore finally taken a step in the right direction.