What does release of the juvenile say about punishment for rape? Has he served his dues to society?

The Supreme Court of India has, expectedly, struck down the plea to extend the detention of the juvenile in the Delhi gangrape of 16 December, 2012. It said there is nothing in the law to authorise such an extension. So that brings the whole debate back to the laws we have.

And that’s where the problem is.

I don’t believe there is a gentle rape or one that is steeped in mitigating circumstances. As crimes go, it is an absolute. We are all for second and third chances for those indicted for pre-adult criminal behaviour, but rape and murder are crimes apart. If a kid steals an apple, swipes candy or aids in a burglary, I would be in favour of sensible rehabilitation.

At some time or the other the best of us have swiped something that wasn’t ours. A towel from a hotel room, a cologne from the aircraft cabin, a nameplate on college annual day and many other such high-jinks of adolescence.

Although those impulsive incursions upon other people’s property cause annoyance, they are reversible.

Murder and rape are not.

When both are combined there is little wiggle room left for niceties.

One is not being bloodthirsty if one submits that in the case of the juvenile’s dismissal in the Delhi gangrape case, there may have been some peg on which to hang the release. It could even be justified if we had evidence in the public domain of the psychological profile, on his level of atonement and some tangible guarantee that the boy would not feel emboldened to do it again.

None of these aspects have been given an airing and it is purely a legal decision predicated to the existing law.

While accepting that there is no black and white stand — like you cannot divide opinion into ‘hang him’ hostility or ‘let him go scot free’ liberality, there has to be that evidence of treatment that goes beyond mere lockup for three years.

The dues to society have not been paid.

The fact is our system does not have that scientific factor in a mature and cutting-edge fashion. Nor do we see rehabilitation as a psycho-medical concept. By the same token, the flaw is further exacerbated by the outdated approach to exactly what is a ‘juvenile delinquent’. Technology and the torrent of explicit sexual information as well as a much higher awareness of aggression, and violence as social tools of intimidation have made the chronological age obsolete.

We are only kidding ourselves. A 14-year-old today has the wherewithal of an 18-year-old a generation ago. We have the largest number of child workers in the world and they have not been given the privilege of an innocent childhood. In the global slavery index, we are also toppers. Half-baked education and hopelessness in the job market has created hundreds of thousands of frustrated youth. Repressed sexuality because of the clash between the audio-visual titillation, internet access and cultural mores is high-octane fuel for such conduct.

Mothers and sisters and all that stuff we place on a pedestal is a cop-out and a collective display of hypocrisy. ‘Venerate your own, but assault the others’ has been an increasing mantra.

Until the judicial and penal system gets more scientific, it is regrettable that every rapist or murderer below the age of 18 will see this landmark decision as tacit permission to exploit. One does not have to be dramatic to foresee a situation in which gangs use more 16/17-year-olds through threat or blandishment as their spearheads in their turf wars… and worse.

The defence being offered for his release is that the young man on the bus was not as brutal as has been portrayed by a sensationalist media.

Maybe not.

But rape and murder is a toxic combination immersed in brutality, so it does not matter how deep you go into that dark wood if you have gone in… Once you’re in, you’ve gone in.

There is also another aspect that cannot be ignored. The incidence of rape has not reduced in the nation and certainly not in Delhi, which now has the dubious reputation of being the rape capital of the world. Can we afford to scale rape in degrees especially in cases where the victim is dead? That is a question which demands an answer before we lynch or espouse liberty.

Much as compassion is a prerequisite to civilised conduct, the frequent attacks on minors — some of them babes — makes physical assault an issue in which the law has to set an example which acts as a deterrent and not an encouragement.

If you can rape, then for that crime you have to do big time.

There is simply no getting away from that.