Harsher rape laws needed

Everyday we read in the newspapers that someone or the other is getting raped. Last week there were reports of foreign women tourists getting raped in Rajasthan. Cases of foreigners getting raped are dealt quickly through fast-track courts. The government is worried that such cases will adversely affect the tourist inflow into the country.

But we find rape cases involving common Indian women take a long time in the courts. Are Indian women less than foreign ladies? I would not like to get into such stupid nitpicking, but would like to raise the question whether the Indian legal system has enough dedication to curb rape. What are needed are stricter laws on rape. The punishment should be harsher. There seems to be no other way.

The punishment for rape under the existing laws is too lenient. When a man is convicted of treason, he is goes to the gallows. Why can't a similar punishment given to rapists? Are not individual rights of a woman as important as national security?

Rape is not merely a forced sexual act with a woman. It is destroying the very personality, the identity of a woman. She feels she is nothing. It is worse than murder. A murdered person does not have to live and face the ghosts till the end of life. Only a woman can understand the utter humiliation and killing of a woman's entity. The problem is that there are not enough women in the country's law making bodies and the courts. The saddest part is that those who are in positions of power seem to have lost their unique womanly power of empathy. They become hardened; just like the men. So nothing changes. Rapes keep occurring.