With numerous cases of rapes being reported every now and then in Jammu and Kashmir, today a report from Kishtwar has unveiled yet another rape case of a minor aged 13. A complaint report corresponding to an alledged rape case was filed in the Police Station Kishtwar after which the accused was nabbed by the police.
However, the underlying heinousness of the rape cases is somehow eroding in our society, wherein the rise of such cases suggests that this vicious reprehensible act is being treated or even compared with other routine crimes.
Rape is an odious crime that needs to be equated with murder as it destroys the life of the victim and somehow the victim is treated as a taboo afterwards. The extreme emotional stress and trauma which a rape victim goes through is immense. It doesn’t only involve the victim but her family too and even it affects the lives of siblings as in many cases the younger sisters of a rape victim were denied marriage proposals by a strict and ignorant societal norm in vogue.
These rising cases must sound alarm bells for civil society members, religious heads and above all the administration. There is exists a dire need to establish counselling centres for youngsters wherein they will be educated about the evils and tribulations of rape.
Most of all there must be corporal punishment for such perpetrators who destroy the lives of other human beings just for their physical desires and even set a bad example in the society. As in the words of a Delhi Court Verdict in 2015:
“…Penetrative sexual assault/rape are offences which speak of the perversity and the cannibalism of the convict. Such sexual offences, in my opinion, are worse than murder/culpable homicide, since the assault in such cases is not just on the body of the victim but also on soul, mind as well as the whole persona of the victim….”
