Authored by: Nishka
Prajapati and Deep Shah
Abstract
Every year the cases of
rape in India are on the rise and since the past few years it has been observed
that the cases of rape on minors are also increasing. This article focuses on
studying the instances of the rape on minor girls in the country and attempts
to understand the psychology of criminals in committing rape on minors. All rape
criminals do not have the same psychology and they do not have the same reasons
to rape a minor girl so the challenge arises in understanding different
psychologies of different rape offenders. Once the psychology of an offender is
understood then appropriate punitive, therapeutic or preventive approach can be
adopted to punish and rehabilitate the offender.
Rape is a highly gendered violent behaviour whereas
the majority of the sexually violent perpetrators are men and the majority of
their victims are women. Rape, the most common form of violence against women,
has been a part of human culture and is a profound violation of woman’s bodily
integrity and can be a form of torture. While the United Nations continues to
promote democracy as the best system to secure women’s dignity and rights,
India the world’s largest democracy fails to protect the nation’s women. The
main focus of this article is on the minors suffering rape and how the criminal
psychology plays a vital role to aid this crime.
Rape is
the fourth most common crime against women in India.[i] It
is estimated that approximately 35% of women worldwide have experienced some
form of sexual harassment in their lifetime. In the majority of countries that
have data available on rape report that less than 40% of women who experience
sexual violence seek help. Less than 10% seek help from law enforcement. Because
many women who experience sexual violence rarely report or come forward about
their incidences, exact rape numbers are challenging to report.[ii] Over
1.75 lakh rape cases were reported in the country between 2014-18 with Madhya
Pradesh registering the highest number of cases all through this period, the
latest NCRB data shows.[iii] The
willingness to report the rape has increased in recent years, after several
incidents of rape received widespread media attention and triggered public
protest. This led the Government of India to reform its penal code for
crimes of rape and sexual assault.
The new act “Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act,
2012” was introduced in
India to protect the rights of children, the new Act[iv] provides
for a variety of offences under which an accused can be punished. The act
defines a child as a person under age of 18 years. It encompasses the
biological age of the child and is silent on the mental age considerations. The
new act recognizes forms of penetration other than penile-vaginal penetration
and criminalizes acts of immodesty against children too. The act is
gender-neutral. With respect to pornography, the Act criminalizes even watching
or collection of pornographic content involving children. The Act makes
abetment of child sexual abuse an offence. It also provides for various
procedural reforms, making the tiring process of trial in India
considerably easier for children. The Act has been criticized as its provisions
seem to criminalize consensual sexual intercourse between two people below the
age of 18.
In the matter of punishment for offence committed by
a person, there are many approaches to the problem. On the commission of crime,
three types of reactions may generate;
1) The
traditional reaction of universal nature which is termed as “punitive approach”. It regards the
criminal as a notoriously dangerous person who must be inflicted severe
punishment to protect the society from his criminal assaults.
2) The
other approach is the “therapeutic
approach”. It regards the criminal as a sick person requiring treatment.
Appropriate treatment and reformative punishment should be given to
rehabilitate the criminal.
3) The
third is the “preventive approach”
which seeks to eliminate those conditions from the society which were
responsible for crime causation.
It all started from Mathura Rape Case[v] in the state of Maharashtra in which a teenage Adivasi
girl was abducted by several policemen, the convicted were acquitted by the
Supreme Court created an uproar on a
national scale and through which the feminist groups themselves were able to
come together across the country for the first time.
In his landmark January 11, 1994, judgment upholding death penal for security guard Dhananjay
Chatterjee, who raped and murdered a school girl in a Kolkata
apartment in 1990, Justice Anand had ruled, “Punishment must depend upon the
atrocity of the crime committed, the conduct of the criminal and the defenseless
state of the victim. And when it comes to unmarried minors than there is no
answer or no amount of punishment is equal to their pain suffered.”[vi]
On May 10,
2017, a 21-month-old baby girl was raped by a 40-year-old man from her
neighborhood in Delhi's Gandhi Nagar area. The man, a known to the girl's
father often allowed him to play with his baby. However, on this particular
day, finding the baby alone, the man raped her for a hours until her father
came home. The baby was rushed to a nearby hospital where the doctors claimed
she was in a critical state. Another
incident, happened on, May 10, 2017, a 5-year-old girl deaf and dumb
girl was raped by a 24-year-old man in Varanasi.
‘Kathua
Rape Case’ (2018), where the eight-year-old girl, who was
brutally gangraped by eight different men in a temple in Kathua. She was
reportedly held for days in the temple and raped, in what appears to have been
an effort to drive out the remaining members of the community from the region.
Another case-
Jind Rape Case (2018) where, the
body of a 15-year-old girl from Jind, Haryana, who had been missing for three
days, was found in the village of Jhansa. Medical reports showed that she had
been brutally gangraped, and her private parts had been mutilated, in earlier
January.
Another incident of terrifying rape of a minor in
Haryana took place in the city of Panipat, where an 11-year-old girl was raped
and murdered by two of her neighbours, who reportedly committed necrophilia after they had murdered her.
On the evening of 16th February 2020, in
a shocking incident, a five-month-old baby girl was allegedly raped on by her
cousin brother. The child was found late on Sunday night and taken to a
hospital where she died during treatment.[vii]
On the evening of 24th
April 2020 a 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by three youths, including a
16-year-old boy, who lured and took her to a school building in a village near
her home in Haryana's Jind district. The police said that the boy knew the girl
and lured her on some pretext. A
rape case was lodged under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children
from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the accused. The main accused boy has
been arrested and further investigation is under progress.[viii]
On
9th June 2020 an 8-year-old girl was brutally raped by 6 people when
the victim had gone to her neighbourhood to ask for food. The police have
arrested all the six accused, two of whom are minors. The other accused include
a 75 year old, a 68 year old, a 53 year old and a 52 year old man. A case has
also been registered under POCSO.[ix]
III. PSYCHOLOGY
OF RAPISTS
Rape is a
horrendous crime and the impact of rape does not only affect the victim
physically but also affects the victim psychologically. The offence of rape may
be committed due to various reasons such as feelings of lust, hatred, anger,
revenge, etc. But what is the psychology of the person committing rape
especially when he commits rape on minors. The author Yashasvi Kone has
correctly observed in her article, “When we think about the act of sexual
violence against women and what could possibly have gone wrong, we invariably
end up blaming the women and ridicule them for falling prey to such an act
right before being ostracized. Women mistakenly feel something is wrong with them
for being raped. This inflicted perspective can lead to years of shame and the
development of various clinical disorders such as major depression and in worst
case scenarios, personality disorders. From the victim’s viewpoint, whether it
is a gang-rape or there is a single perpetrator, the psychological trauma is
the same. The degree of physical violence may or may not be different. Along
with the incidence of rape, the severity is also worsening. However, in all
this hatred and anger directed towards the rapist, and the victim for invoking
this wrath on her, the underlying pathology of the rapist is often ignored.
What goes on in the minds of the men who impose themselves on unsuspecting
women – young, old, comatose or infant – is one question that has exercised
many. So, what is that makes a monster out of a man?”[x] It is often seen that people
tend to blame women for being the victim of rape and hold her responsible for
wearing certain kind of clothes or behaving in a certain way. There are various
myths prevalent in the society regarding the offence of rape which have been
summarized by Jaydip Sarkar in his article as follows: (a) women ask for sex by
the way they dress and behave, (b) they enjoy being raped, (c) women are raped
only by strangers, (d) women could avoid being raped if they really wanted to,
(e) women cry rape for revenge on powerful men, (f) rapists are crazy or
psychotic (“animals” is a word that is often used), and (g) most rapists are
“different”, “not like us.” None of the above are generically true even if
there may be some truth in some rare individual cases.[xi] Marcia Cohen and Sherrie H.
McKenna, in their article, gave answers to these myths in the light of
psychology of rape criminals as follows: “One commonly believed myth is that rape
is primarily a sexual act. Persons with this belief often unintentionally place
the victim on trial. Her motives, her dress and her actions become suspect not
only to law enforcement officials but also to her family and friends. The
woman’s credibility may be questioned and her sexual activity and private life
may be made public. Perhaps because of the guilt, embarrassment and
humiliation, rape has been a highly underreported crime. However, throughout
the past 20 years a variety of psychologists and sociologists have begun to
study the psychology of rape and rapists. Their findings have shown that rape
is a crime of violence, often regarded by the woman as a life-threatening act
in which fear and humiliation are her dominant emotions. Sexual desire is less
a motivation for the man than violent aggression.”[xii] So when a man rapes a
woman it is often fuelled by his emotions of violence, hatred, anger, revenge,
etc. and if the psychology of such rapists committing rape on minors is
understood then efforts can be made in the right direction to prevent such
crimes.
The classification of rapists is made on the basis of the driving
force which influences them to commit rape. Sometimes it may be premeditated
and sometimes it may be due to momentary lapse in judgment. Sometimes the
offence is committed to satisfy the sexual urge and other times the offence is
driven by the emotions of aggression and violence. The author Jaydip Sarkar
has, in his article, studied the taxonomy of rapists as follows:
“There
are many taxonomies available but one of the most robust, widely used, and
methodologically sound typological systems to date is the Massachusetts
Treatment Centre Rapist Typology: Version 3 (MTC:R3) which uses both theory and
empirical data. This model uses motivating dimensions to describe six different
types of rapists, which is as follows:
·
Opportunistic
rapist: Offences are unplanned and impulsive and immediate sexual gratification
is sought, with force used as necessary. Offences are driven largely by
immediate antecedent events (situational factors) rather than personal
psychopathology, for example, late night, lone isolated female, no witnesses
around. Sexual assault is one of many instances of poor impulse control.
·
Anger
rapist: His offence is driven by extreme gratuitous aggression, severe
violence, and a history of previous antisocial offending, serious physical
injury to the victim is caused.
·
Sexual
rapist: He is driven by preoccupation with sexual fantasies and urges and is
best captured by the diagnosis of Paraphillia – Not otherwise specified
(DSM-IV-TR)
·
Sexually
nonsadistic rapist: He is driven by sexual fantasies and urges too, but the
sexual arousal is inappropriate in nature (e.g., fetish), there are offence
supportive beliefs and feelings of inadequacy regarding masculinity and sex.
·
Sexually
sadistic rapist: The motivation for this rapist is not sexual but fantasies of
degradation and humiliation of and power and control over the victim, best
captured by the diagnosis of sexual sadism in the DSM-IV-TR.
·
Vindictive
rapist: His drive is predominantly anger, but unlike the angry rapist, his
anger and aggression is focussed exclusively on women. His behaviour is
intended to humiliate and degrade victims with little/no evidence of eroticised
aggression and low levels of impulsivity.
Some
of these typologies include further subdivisions in terms of high or low social
competence and the offence being sadistic in overt or muted manner.”[xiii]
The above classification also holds true for the types of criminals
committing rape on minors. The study of these different types of rapists is
necessary to understand the reasons why one would commit rape on minors so that
appropriate steps may be taken to prevent this heinous crime.
Rape on minors may be committed either due to any psychiatric disorder
(pedophilia) or due to the perverse and sadistic mind of the offender. George
R. Brown, MD, Professor and Associate Chairman of Psychiatry, East Tennessee
State University, has explained pedophilic disorder as follows:
“Pedophilia is form
of paraphilia. Because it causes harm to others, it is considered a disorder.
Pedophilic disorder is characterized by recurring, intense sexually arousing
fantasies, urges, or behaviour involving children (usually 13 years old or
younger). Pedophiles may be attracted to young boys, young girls, or both.
Whether girls or boys are more likely to be the victims of pedophiles is
unclear, although girls seem much more likely to be the victims of sexual abuse
in general. Usually, the adult is known to the child and may be a family member,
stepparent, or a person with authority (such as a teacher or coach). Some are
attracted only to children within their own family (incest). Some pedophiles
are attracted only to children, often of a specific age range or developmental
stage. Others are attracted to both children and adults. Doctors diagnose
pedophilia when people feel greatly distressed or become less able to function
well because of their attraction to children or when they have acted on their
urges. Treatment involves long-term psychotherapy and drugs that alter the sex
drive and reduce testosterone levels.”[xiv]
In the article ‘The Neurobiology
and Psychology of Pedophilia: Recent Advances and Challenges’ an in-depth
study of the pedophilic disorder has been made and the following has been
observed:
The most commonly
asked question about pedophilia is how frequently it occurs. Obtaining reliable
incidence numbers of pedophilia as a preference disorder is difficult as
individuals are typically unwilling to admit pedophilic preferences,
particularly when offenses have been committed. The prevalence of a true
pedophilic sexual preference is approximately 1%, but when general fantasies
are investigated, that prevalence can reach up to 5% among men in the general
population, extrapolated from the studies discussed below. Some studies suggest
that the prevelance of pedophilia may be between 3% and 5% in the general
population (as reviewed by Seto, 2009). In penile plethysmography studies of
men with sexual offense histories against children, these prevalences can jump
from 30% for men with one offense to 61% for men with 3 or more sexual offenses
against children (Blanchard, 2010; Seto, 2009). Child pornography use is also
strongly related to pedophilia. As a study deriving from the German Dunkelfeld
Prevention Project concluded, among 345 pedophiles admitting one or more sexual
offenses against children, 37% have solely used child pornography, 21%
committed exclusively hands-on sexual contacts with a minor, and 42% have
committed both.[xv]
It is essential to know the status of mind of the person committing
rape on minors so that appropriate treatment can be meted out to him and he can
be rehabilitated back to the society.
The Calcutta High Court studied the Crime Statistics of India provided
by NCRB and observed that, “National Crime Record Bureau Reports show more than
90 per cent of cases of rape are perpetrated by relations or known persons.
NCRB
Crime in India Statistics in 2018 show that 93.9% of the total rape cases were
committed by persons known to the victim. In 2017, in 93% of the total rape
cases, the offenders were known to the victim while in 2016, 94.6% of the total
cases were committed by relations including father, brother, son, grandfather
or other known acquaintances.”[xvi] It was reported that, “Every
fourth rape victim across the country in 2018 was a minor, while more than 50
per cent of them fell in the age category of 18 to 30 years, according to the
latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. In almost 94 per cent of the
cases, the offenders were known to the victims - family members, friends,
live-in partners, employers or others, the data showed.”[xvii] It can be observed from
the above data that in most of the cases of rape on minors the offenders are
known to the victim and they are either the parents, family members, neighbours
or relatives of the victim.
In the case of Mohinder Singh vs. State Of Punjab[xviii] the accused had committed rape on his
minor daughter and was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 12 years. The
Supreme Court expressed its repugnance in the following words, “One cannot comprehend to visualize a
situation of such nature in which father himself committed rape on his own minor
daughter in the presence of her own mother. The conduct of the appellant in the
commission of the said offence was not only bordering on immorality of the
highest order but would be extremely difficult for anyone to lightly brush
aside such a conduct by stating that either it was committed in a fit of anger
or rage or such other similar situation. If such grotesque offence of rape had
been committed by anyone, other than the father himself, the victim would have
had every opportunity to cry for solace in her father or mother. In this
context, we are only reminded of the Tamil proverb “?????? ????? ??????? ???” which means in English
“When the fence eats the crops”. When the father himself happens to be the
assailant in the commission of such beastly crime, one can visualize the
pathetic situation in which the girl would have been placed and that too when
such a shameless act was committed in the presence of her own mother.”[xix]
In the case of Laxman Naik vs. State of Orissa[xx]
a 7 year old girl was raped and murdered by her own uncle. The Court opined
that the accused seems to have acted in a beastly manner. After satisfying his
lust, he thought that the victim might expose him for the commission of offence
on her to her family members and others, the accused with a view to screen the
evidence of the crime, put an end to the life of that innocent girl. The Court
noticed how diabolically the accused had conceived his plan and brutally
executed it in such a calculated cold blooded and brutal murder of a very tender
age girl after committing rape on her. In the case of Kamta Tiwari vs. State of M.P.[xxi]
the Supreme Court dealt with a case of rape followed by murder of a 7 year old
girl. Evidence disclosed that the accused was close to the family of the father
of the deceased and the deceased used to call him “uncle”. This Court noticed
the closeness to the accused and the accused encouraged her to go to the
grocery shop where the girl was kidnapped by him and was subjected to rape and
later strangulated to death throwing the dead body in a well. In the case of Shivaji
@ Dadya Shankar Alhat v. The State of Maharashtra[xxii]
the accused, a married man having three children, was known to the family of
the deceased and he raped and murdered the 9 year old victim. In the case of Mohd.
Mannan @ Abdul Mannan v. State of Bihar[xxiii]
a minor girl aged 7 years was kidnapped, raped and murdered. Court noticed how
the accused had won the trust of that innocent girl and the gruesome manner in
which she was subjected to rape and then strangulated her to death. The accused
was aged 42-43 years. In Haresh Mohandas Rajput v. State of
Maharashtra[xxiv]
a 10 year old girl was raped by her neighbour while playing. In Amit vs. State of Uttar Pradesh[xxv] the 28 year old accused, who was a
neighbour of the victim, took away the 3 year old victim on the pretext that
he would give biscuits to her and then committed rape on her and murdered her.
The above are some of the many instances where a minor girl is raped by a
family member or someone close to the family or someone who gains the trust of
the victim.
In the case of Saji @ Piyoos
vs State Of Kerala[xxvi] the Kerala High Court upheld the conviction
of the two accused who were the parents of the victim. The father of the victim
(1st accused) with an intention of committing rape of his own minor
daughter aged 13 years had sexual intercourse with her for a period of one year
consequent to which she became pregnant and delivered a baby boy. After
delivery the accused abandoned the baby of the victim. The Kerala High Court
commented that, “In this case, the father did not spare his daughter and
ravished her body and soul to satisfy his lust for sex. Undoubtedly, he
deserves severest of punishment provided under law.”
In the case of Moosa Kunnugothi vs. The Administrator[xxvii]
the Kerala High Court rejected bail application of the accused who is a
person wielding considerable influence and wealth. With the active aid
and assistance of his wife, the 2nd accused, he is alleged to have
procured a minor child aged 9 year, coming from an underprivileged background,
and subjected her to rape and unnatural sexual assault. It is also alleged that
the deviant and depraved acts committed by the petitioner were videotaped and
the same was circulated by the petitioner, online as well as offline. In the
course of the investigation, while the statement of the 2nd accused was
recorded under section 164 of the Cr.P.C. was recorded, she is alleged to have
disclosed about another incident of brutal sexual molestation by the petitioner
of yet another minor girl, under the age of 13 years. The case is under trial.
In the case of Dhari Kumar Jamatia vs. State Of Tripura[xxviii]
the Tripura High Court upheld the conviction of three accused who had forcibly
taken the victim away to the nearby rubber garden where she was gang raped by
them. The accused were known to the victim. In this case the age of the
victim (whether she was a minor) at the date of the incident and delay in
filing FIR were under scrutiny. To establish the age of the victim her school
certificate was provided as evidence and the court accepted it holding that the
victim was a minor at the date of the incident. With regards to delay in filing
FIR the Court observed that, “In our considered view, it is quite unrealistic
to look for explanation for every moment's delay in reporting the crime to
police in rape cases. When such a barbaric crime is committed to a woman, not
only the victim, her entire family undergoes a trauma and it takes time for
them to come back to normalcy and think for other things. What we need to
consider is whether the lapse of time / delay, in the given facts and
circumstances of the case, creates an inference that the time was utilized for
concoction and false implication.” The court analysed the facts and
circumstances of the case and held that there was no delay in filing FIR and
the Trial Court had rightly convicted the accused.
The reason why rapists commit rape on minor girls, preferably whom they
know, is because they get easy access to such girls, such minor girls have
trust on such people they know and the family members also would not doubt and
leave the minor girl alone with such person known to them, the minor girls
would not resist or would not resist as powerfully as a major would, the minor
girl would not even realise that she has been raped, it is easy to threaten or
manipulate such minor girls and sometimes the family members would also not
prefer filing a complaint of rape of a minor girl by a known person or by a
relative due to the fear of losing their social status in the society. The
psychology of the criminal in raping a minor girl is that he can show power on
her with fewer efforts and the chances of his exposure would be less.
The interviews of some people who are working or have closely worked
with the subject of rape and rape criminals were taken to get a practical
understanding of rape and the psychology of criminals.
(1) Mr. Abhimanyu Rai, Police Sub-inspector, Vastrapur Police
(Ahmedabad, Gujarat)
On being asked about
the accused who rape minor girls Mr. Abhimanyu Rai was of the view that the age
group of the accused causing rape on minors is mostly 17 to 24 years of age.
The girls who are more than 12 years of age and who are the victims of rape are
usually involved in a romantic relationship with the accused and also have
physical relationship with the accused and when the family of the girl
discovers about their relationship they blame the accused of having caused rape
on the girl even though the physical relationship having been consensual. It is
very rare to find cases where rape is caused by a stranger on a minor. Moreover
there are also cases of fake FIRs and sometimes the media reports a case of
rape just on the basis of FIR even before the investigation is completed,
medical report is obtained and even before the rape is established. He is of
the view that the cases of rape are less than the cases of sexual harassment
and sexual assault.
(2) Mr. D.R.Rathod, Police Sub-Inspector, Sola Police (Ahmedabad,
Gujarat)
Mr. D.R.Rathod said
that the officers interrogating with the rape accused are of the view that the
accused who commit rape on minors are mostly having some psychological disorder
and they do not have control over their minds. He is of the view that in cases
of victim girls who are of the age of 16 to 18 years and the accused being an
adult male of around 24 years of age usually have a consensual physical
relationship and a complaint of rape is filed only when the family members of
the girl discovers about their relationship and to maintain their status in the
society and to prevent degradation of their social status the girl complaints
the physical relationship to be non-consensual thereby amounting to rape. On
the topic of rape on minors Mr. Rathod is of the view that rape cases on minors
are on the rise as the criminals think that they can easily manipulate and
threaten minor girls, show power to them and such minor victims would resist
less as compared to the major victims. Such minor girls would not even realize
what happened with them and many times they would not even tell anyone about
what happened with them. This is the reason that parents should teach their
minor girls to inform them if any such thing happens with such girls and sex
education is important for both boys and girls.
(3) Mr. G.S.Siyan, Senior Police Inspector, Sola Police (Ahmedabad,
Gujarat)
Mr. G.S.Siyan is of
the view that one of the main reasons of the increasing rape cases in the
country is the increasing influence of the western culture. He is also of the
view that the media only have half information and they do not always report
the whole truth and sometimes report a case to be rape despite being a case of
sexual harassment. In many cases, there are provocations by the victim who are
of the age group of 16 to 18 years but after the case is filed the victim does
not accept such provocations and blame the accused. Such victims misuse the
sexual harassment laws made for the protection of females. In respect of rape
on minors, he is of the view that there is an important role to be played by
the parents of a minor girl child. The parents have to teach the minor girls
about the ‘GOOD TOUCH BAD TOUCH’.
(4) Mr. D.H.Gadhvi, Police Inspector, Sola Police (Ahmedabad, Gujarat)
On being asked that
there are many laws which punish sexual assault and sexual harassment then why
is there no deterrent effect of those laws on the accused, Mr.D.H.Gadhvi is of
the view that the criminals have the psychology that even though there is heavy
punishment for the crime of rape their lawyers would defend them and acquit
them from the charges of rape. Such assurance would give them the power to do
anything.
(5) Ms. Ruzan Khambatta, Director Wajra O’ Force Empowerment
Foundation
On being asked about
the reasons for increasing rape cases on minors Ms. Ruzan Khambatta is of the
view that pornography, influence of alcohol and vulnerability of minor girls
are some of the many reasons for the increasing rape cases on minors. The minor
girls cannot defend themselves which makes them an easy target. The concept of
nuclear families has corrupted the family values which is the main reason why a
family member or a relative of a minor girl commits rape on her. She has also
observed that rape on minors usually occurs in the rural or slum areas and one
of the main reasons for that are the migrant labourers. The migrant labourers
usually come for work alone and they have no way to satisfy their sexual urge
due to which they would often rape minor girls, being the easy target, residing
in their neighbouring house or in their locality. Ms. Ruzan Khambatta believes
that stringent action needs to be taken against such accused and the laws need
to be stricter for the prevention of such crimes. She recommends shock
treatment for fixing the perverse mind of such accused who commit the
horrendous crime of raping minor girls which might create a deterrent effect
thereby reducing the rape on minors in the country.
(6) Prof. Debarati Halder, United World School
of Law (Gujarat)
Prof.
Debarati Halder holds the view that the offenders raping minors would either be
juveniles or adults. The offenders, who commit rape on minors, in the age group
of 16 to 19 years are exposed to sexual content and it is their responsibility
to use it positively or negatively. When the exposure to sexually explicit
content is not handled positively it results in crimes such as rape. She
believes that law cannot control the actions of the people, it can only create
fear in the mind of people. Some of the reasons for aggravated penetrative
sexual assault are prolonged provocation, sadistic mentality, social dominance
and revenge rape. On the aspect of social dominance Prof. Debarati Halder said
that in states like Rajasthan and Haryana the practice of social dominance is
prevalent which results in people of higher caste committing rape on women and
minor girls of lower caste. According to her, education and social awareness
can help in reducing the crime of rape.
(7) Prof. Sonia Shali, United World School of
Law (Gujarat)
Prof.
Sonia Shali, explaining the psychology of criminals, said that the term
‘psyche’ in ‘psychology’ refers to brain and all actions are done by the
command of the brain. The actions may be either intentional or unintentional
but all actions done by a criminal would be intentional since he would have
given some thought before committing a crime. The mens rea of a crime is said to be negative cognitive process of the
criminal. According to her some of the reasons for increasing rape cases are
peer influence, nuclear families, poverty, surroundings and money. She believes
that 12 to 18 years of age is an experimental age and so the juveniles commit
rape on minor girls to experiment their sexual impulse whereas the major males
commit rape on minor girls to satisfy their lust under the influence of their
pervert and sadistic minds. Rape on minors occurs more in villages and is often
committed by the minor’s relatives or by the people she knows mainly because of
lack of education, lack of money, urge for sexual pleasure, easy access to
minors and they can be threatened easily. To understand the psychology of
offenders who commit rape on minors methods such as mapping and psychometric
analysis are used so that it can be known whether the offender committed rape
due to some kind of psychiatric disorder or just because of his pervert mind.
As per the views noted above, it can be said
that some of the main reasons for rape on minors are pornography, influence of
alcohol, vulnerability of minor girls, less resistance by minor girls, poverty,
illiteracy, influence of surroundings, peer influence, nuclear families and
social dominance.
As has been observed above, the three
approaches to a crime are the punitive approach, therapeutic approach and
preventive approach. If we give our take upon the execution of punitive approach
then, during the time of judgement, not only the pain and sufferings of the
minor victim of rape but also the psychology and circumstances of the offender
committing rape on minor be considered by the courts. Moreover, there should be
more focus on the adoption and execution of the therapeutic and preventive
approaches so as to rehabilitate the offenders and to take measures to prevent
the crime of rape on minors.
As far as the therapeutic approach is
concerned, measures can be taken to find the reasons why an offender committed
rape on minor, whether it was because of him suffering from some psychiatric
disorder or whether it was due to some personal enmity or feelings of lust or
anger. Once the reason for the offence is known then appropriate therapeutic
treatments can be meted out to the offenders for their reformation and
rehabilitation. In case of preventive approach, preventive measures such as
educating the minors about ‘good touch and bad touch’; encouraging confidence
in minors to inform if any incident of sexual assault happens with them; creating
awareness among people about rape on minors and the harshness of the punishment
for such crimes so as to create deterrent effect among people; survey should be
made as to in which areas, whether rural or urban, the crime of rape on minors
is more prominent and to target the awareness programmes appropriately towards
those areas; to avoid the minors wandering alone in the streets, especially at
night and to always accompany the minor girls when they go out; the parents of
the minors should always keep a check on the behaviour of their neighbours or
the relatives towards their child and if they have any suspicion then they
should talk directly to that person regarding it and should also warn their
child and such other measures should be taken to prevent the crime of rape on
minors.
As is stated in this article, there are
different reasons for different offenders to commit the offence of rape on
minors so it becomes difficult to make laws as per different situations. The
effective implementation of the law would be to take into account both, the
suffering of the victim and the psychology of the offender while pronouncing
judgments. Also some of the other measures which can be taken are to encourage
the victims to report the crime of rape on them, to encourage the offenders to
undergo psychiatric treatments so that they do not commit the offence again and
to establish fast-track courts to specially deal with the cases of rape on
minors for speedy relief. An effective change can be brought not only by
treating the victims of rape but also by treating the offenders of rape.
[i] Kumar, Radha (2003) [1993], "The agitation against
rape", in Kumar, Radha, The history of doing: an
illustrated account of movements for women's rights and feminism in India
1800-1990, New Delhi: Zubaan, p. 128, ISBN 9788185107769.
"Chapter 5: Crime against
women", Crime in India 2012 Statistics (PDF), National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India,
p. 81, archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2016
[v] Tuka Ram and
Another vs. State of Maharashtra, 1979 AIR
185
[vi] Dhananjay
Chatterjee Alias Dhana vs. State of West Bengal, 1994 (1) ALT Cri 388
[xv] Gilian
Tenbergen, Matthias Wittfoth, Helge Frieling, Jorge Ponseti, Martin Walter,
Henrik Walter, Klaus M. Beier, Boris Schiffer, Tillmann H. C. Kruger Front Hum
Neurosci. The Neurobiology and Psychology of Pedophilia: Recent Advances and Challenges.
2015; 9: 344. Published online 2015 Jun 24. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00344, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4478390/
