Friday, May 06, 2005

This is ridiculous ....

the indian courts are loony, and if the victim agrees to forgive in exchange for marriage, you would think the victim is loony too ... and the rapist was formally acquitted since he agreed to marry the victim. According to The Hindu,
According to the public prosecutor, just before pronouncing the sentence on Tuesday, the judge asked the girl if she wanted to say anything. The girl said she would forgive 25-year-old Firoz Shaikh provided he married her. Shaikh agreed to this.
I can completely imagine why Niket was so furious about it.

One is tempted to ask the question: Was the victim nuts when she said that, or was it merely social pressure of some sort that coerces the story to move like it did? In this scenario, is the court justified in acquiescing to the request of the victim or are the people justified in taking the prosecution to its proper end, and convict the rapist? there doesnt seem to be any shred of doubt about the crime or who committed it ... then what should be the outcome/? or is it simply dependent on 'victim withdraws the charges, case dropped'? wonder what the legal answer to that is?

1 comment:

Ravi said...

guess its more coz the victim withdrew the charge.. but in which case (no pun intended) its waste of judiciary time n god knows how many cases r pending in our courts.

this is of course assuming the victim withdrew the charge... whether thats right or wrong, another story. i think the judge by asking the victim this question has set a bad precedent for rape cases to come! it gives a rapist moral (and hence legal??) getaway by proposing to marry the victim! further more if the victim declined to the proposal, will the judge be lenient as the rapist has 'morally' accepted his crime?