The Madras High Court on Monday warned the Union Home Secretary as well as the Women and Child Development Secretary that they would be summoned by the court if they did not respond to questions raised by it on December 15 with respect to the steps to be taken to prevent the increasing number of rape and other sexual offences committed against women and children.
Passing an interim order to this effect, Justice N. Kirubakaran said: “If no communication from the two Ministries is received by the senior Central government standing counsel D. Saravanan by Thursday, this court will be constrained to summon the Home Secretary as well as the Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development.”
The order was passed during the hearing of a bail petition filed in the Madurai Bench of the High Court through video-conferencing from Chennai.
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The petition had been filed by two youngsters, Andrews and Prabhu, booked by the Kudankulam police in Tirunelveli district for the alleged rape and murder of an elderly mentally challenged woman along with two juveniles.
While hearing the petition last year, the judge had posed 25 questions to the Centre, the State Government and the Director General of Police.
He asked the governments to spell out the reasons for the increase in sexual crimes and wanted to know why should they not distribute modern devices/gadgets to women, which could be used by them at times of distress.
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Further, seeking data related to the conviction rate in rape cases, he also wanted to know whether the victims were given proper counselling and support system to overcome the trauma, besides being paid compensation. “Is it true that many cases go unreported due to the fear of stigma and exclusion by the society and family?” he questioned.
Moving a step further, he asked, “...whether sexual violence against women is due to the ‘sex starvation’ among Indian men in view of various prohibition/ prescription regarding sex on the ground of culture, religion, morality and ethics?” or whether the reason was also lack of knowledge and understanding about sex.
He went on to ask whether the crimes were being committed due to a wrong impression among men that women were objects of pleasure or to prove their dominance and control over women or because of easy accessibility and availability of pornographic materials through internet and smart phones.
Sex education in syllabus
Also wondering whether movies and television soaps give “tips/clues/ideas for the men, especially youngsters and juveniles to indulge in sexual violence against women and girl children,” he asked the governments to explain steps taken to introduce age-appropriate sex education in school curriculum and moral education, especially for boys.
The judge wanted to know why the Centre and the State government should notappoint a committee comprising psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists and women activists for examining the issue in detail and coming up with solutions to the problem.
Mr. Kirubakaran got annoyed on Monday when Mr. Saravanan reported that he was yet to receive instructions from the Centre.
“This is such an important issue plaguing the country. The media is full of incidents of rape and sexual offences. How can the officials not instruct you though more than four months have passed by?” the judge wondered.
Referring to the latest ordinance passed by the Centre prescribing death penalty for those who rape children below 12 years of age, the judge said: “This is why I had suggested castration of child rapists in one of my judgments in 2015. Now do you understand how serious this issue is?” The case has been adjourned to Thursday.