BJP govt doesn’t want death penalty for those raping children, but party MP would like it for those killing cows
Cow protection was a part of the BJP’s 2014 election manifesto.
Two things happened on Friday, February 2. First, the Centre told the Supreme Court that it was not in favour of death penalty to those convicted of sexually assaulting infants and children. Second, in the Rajya Sabha, BJP member Subramanian Swamy moved a private member bill calling for capital punishment for cow slaughter. He, however, withdrew it after the government assured that steps have been taken to protect the animal.
To put it into perspective: the BJP ruling the Centre does not think those raping children should be given the death penalty. But in Parliament, its member was pushing for a law to give that punishment to those who kill cows.
In the Supreme Court, the additional solicitor general PS Narasimha argued that the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act anyway provids for stringent punishment - up to life imprisonment - and that “death penalty is not an answer to everything”.
The additional solicitor general is right. If only the party running his government listened to him.
Death penalty as effective deterrent
The ASG was responding to a plea from an advocate for a direction to the government to bring in a law providing for death to those who rape children. Recently, the Madhya Pradesh government passed a bill for capital punishment to those guilty of raping girls below the age of 12.
The argument that the prospect of capital punishment deters potential criminals is flawed. The Justice JS Verma Committee, which was tasked with reforming and strengthening anti-rape laws in the country in the wake of the December 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder, categorically stated that capital punishment is not a deterrent.
In cases of sexual assault, victims suffer from a range of institutional disadvantages. Our police force and the judiciary have a history of shaming rape victims, disbelieving them, and not acting against criminals from socially powerful classes. The calls for death penalty are a way of running away from this responsibility – it is easier to avenge a society’s outrage by handing out a punishment that matches the brutality of the crime, rather than go into the long, laborious process of reform at fundamental levels.
Strict punishments give the impression of something having been done. They might help the society sleep better, but do not help the victims. In fact, enough experts have pointed out that a provision for death penalty endangers potential victims, as it might drive a rapist to kill the child after sexual assault.
Capital punishment for cow slaughter
At present in India, death penalty is awarded in the “rarest of rare” cases for offences such as treason, mutiny, murder, abetment to suicide and kidnapping for ransom, in cases where rape is fatal or leaves the victim in a persistent vegetative state, and to certain repeat offenders.
Killing a cow cannot be compared either in severity or heinousness to any of the above.
Also, the manner in which the death penalty is awarded in India is inconsistent and arbitrary. A BBC report says: “A 2006 study of Supreme Court judgments on death penalty by Amnesty International and the People's Union for Civil Liberties revealed that the imposition of death sentences was like a “lethal lottery”, disproportionately affecting those with little wealth or influence.”
A report by the Centre for Death Penalty of Delhi National Law University in 2016 found that more than three-fourths of death row convicts in the country belonged to socially, economically and educationally backward section of the society.
In the recent past, the country has seen too many cases of cow protection zeal elevated to manic levels, and gau rakshaks, under overt and covert state patronage, have already killed people they assumed were carrying cows for slaughter, or were consuming beef.
In such a scenario, a cow protection law with provisions of death penalty will institutionalise this persecution and endanger the vulnerable - those who eat beef or deal with cow carcass are normally from the Muslim or Dalit communities, with little wherewithal to fight false cases filed against them.
The BJP government and the cow
Creating “necessary legal framework to protect and promote cow and its progeny" was a part of the BJP’s 2014 election manifesto. We all know the BJP is a pro-Hindutva party, and really likes the cow. The urgency with which it is pushing the cause of the cow is commendable - Swamy had introduced the bill last year too, the government had introduced Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Market) Rules, effectively prohibiting the sale of cows and buffaloes for slaughter at animal markets, which was later stayed.
It would be nice if the BJP showed the same intent and energy in meeting the other promises it made in its manifesto, or in discharging its duties as the main constituent of the alliance leading the central government – such as providing justice to the many people lynched by gau rakshaks.
In Parliament on February 2, Swamy gave reasons why the “veneration of the cows is justifiable”, and added: “Because cow meat has such high export value, we need a strong punishment as a deterrent [against slaughter]. Capital punishment.”
While the government has in the past tried to rationalise its cow protection efforts as steps to improve agriculture and animal husbandry sectors, it is obvious the move is an integral part of its Project Hindutva. If only, humans figured equally prominently in it.