Policies and laws relating to heinous crimes like sexual assault should be revisited with utmost seriousness as the accused holding high positions can evade arrest while the ordinary co-accused are getting arrested, according to president of Indian Society of Criminology B.B. Pande.
Presiding over the 38th annual conference on ‘Sex, power, crimes and victims: The requiro for policy shift in India’ of the Indian Society of Criminology held at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University here on Thursday, Prof. Pande said that all the accused in the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case were nabbed and put behind the bars, thanks to the media coverage. Similar incident had occurred in southern Tamil Nadu in which a minor girl had been sexually assaulted by his father, brother and a few more persons, including police officials.
While the victim’s father, brother and others were arrested, the police officials occupying high positions were yet to be arrested. “This incident clearly underlines the need for revisiting the policies or laws relating to sexual assault,” Prof. Pande noted.
Judicial Member of the National Green Tribunal, Chennai, Justice P. Jyothimani said that a clear system of deciding the quantum of conviction in cases pertaining to heinous crimes was existing in the United States of America, and the judges there could deliver sentence more clearly. But there was no such system in India and hence a judge, who was trying a case of murder, was easily arriving at a conclusion that the accused should be either awarded life imprisonment or capital punishment.
“If a clear system is evolved (in India)…, it will give more clarity to the judges hearing murder cases. The conferences like this should discuss this issue and come out with solutions and recommendations to the government so as to make amendments,” Justice Mr. Jyothimani said.
Meritorious criminology professors were presented with ISC awards on the occasion.
ISC secretary S. Latha presented a report on the ISC. MSU Registrar A. John De Britto released a coverage of the proceedings of the conference which was received by former IPS officer C.L. Ramakrishnan.
Head of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, MSU, P. Madhava Somasundaram, ISC Vice-Chairman R. Thilagaraj and others spoke.
