The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on a plea seeking directions to raise awareness of the stringent provisions providing punishment for sexual offences, particularly rape, to prevent the commission of such heinous offences.
A bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, sought the response of the Centre, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the Central Bureau Of Film Certification (CBFC) in the matter.
The plea, filed by senior advocate Aabad Harshad Ponda, said that despite the rape laws being made more stringent post the Nirbhaya incident, this crime only seems to be on the rise.
“Repeated rapes in the country do not speak well about good governance and effective implementation of the law. The element of justice lies in filling up the gap of communication between the existence of the laws which are made by the legislature and the proper communication and dissemination of the laws to all sections of the society,” it said.
The plea, filed through advocate Sandeep Sudhakar Deshmukh, said that states like West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh have sought mandatory death sentences for the crime of both rape and murder in the same incident and bills passed in this regard are awaiting Presidential assent, claiming that even if such laws are enacted, the problem will not be solved. It also held that such mandatory capital punishment would violate the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.
The petition said that by making murder punishable as it is, the cases of murder have not been reduced as the cause for the same remains unconnected with the punishment. It suggested adopting pre-emptive measures to curb the rising menace of rape cases, including formulation of guidelines to educate and create awareness in the entire Indian populace about the menace of rape and the punishments that it fetches.
