In this photograph taken on September 13, 2013, members of the Karnataka State Youth Congress, some of them wearing masks of the four convicted rapists, enact a mock execution in Bangalore following the sentencing in New Delhi of four men convicted of rape and murder. PHOTO: AFP
NEW DELHI: Indian rights groups voiced dismay Saturday over death sentences handed to four men for a fatal gang rape, saying it was unlikely to reverse the country's "rape crisis" despite a clamour for their execution.
After a seven-month fast-track trial, Judge Yogesh Khanna said Friday the four men should be "hanged by the neck till they are dead" for the brutal rape of a 23-year-old woman on a bus last December.
After the sentencing, people distributed sweets on the street in celebration and tweeted that "justice" had been served.
But on Saturday, rights network Avaaz slammed the verdict, urging the government instead to launch a mass public education campaign to stop India's "rape epidemic".
"Executing these men won't bring back the woman they raped or reverse India's rape crisis. The only way to stop rape before it starts is with a massive public education campaign," the online activist network said.
Indian newspapers splashed the sentencing on their front pages along with mug shots of the four convicts whose crime shocked the nation and triggered weeks of street protests.
"Showed no mercy, got no mercy" screamed a banner headline in the English language Hindustan Times while the Times of India said "Death for four for dastardly, diabolical, brutal crime".
In the lead-up to the sentencing, there had been a huge clamour for the four -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, and Mukesh Singh -- to be executed for their attack on the physiotherapy student and her male companion on December 16.
The papers, however, wondered if handing down the death penalty in rape cases would make women any safer across the country.
Last year, there were 24,923 cases of rape reported in India, according to the government's official statistics. But the actual figure is believed to be far higher with experts saying women are reluctant to file complaints for fear of social stigma in the socially conservative nation.
An editorial in The Hindu newspaper was scathing in its criticism of the verdict, saying it would serve little purpose other than providing a "false comfort of retribution".
"In meting out the hangman's justice... the sessions court has regrettably missed an opportunity to turn the discourse away from retributive punishment to constructive dialogue on policing and legal reforms," it wrote under the headline, "Crimes death can't wish away".
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died of massive internal injuries on December 29 after being lured on to the private bus by the gang following a cinema trip with a companion.
In handing out the sentence, judge Khanna said the crime fell into the "rarest of rare category" that justified capital punishment under India's legal system.
Kavita Krishnan of the All India Progressive Women's Association said the punishment was hardly going to serve as a deterrent.
"In the same court, there were acquittals in 20 out of 23 rape cases. Potential rapists can see how remote their chances of conviction are, leave alone the punishment," she told AFP.
The Hindustan Times said the verdict was "not an occasion to rejoice" because it would not stop sex crimes.
To make India safer for women, "we must tackle deep-rooted social problems", it said.
Human Rights Watch called the verdict "troubling".
"It may have a popular appeal and seem like the easy option, but the government should abolish this inhumane measure and get down to the harder task of institutional reform," the group's regional director Meenakashi Ganguly said.
"That would be the way to really protect women and girls from future attacks," she added.
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How come rights group are always on wrong side of fence ? They forget that rights are for humans, not beasts like these people who already forfeited that right to be treated as human by doing such a heinous crime. I can bet these right group activists will be first to drop all their morals if their daughter is in harms way.
I wish that a woman relative of these so-called rights group should have been raped,the way the 23-year-old victim was raped ,and brutalised. Then these rights groups would have understood. Why should tax-payers bear the survival of these "darindas"? These four "Darindas" should not only be casrated,but their intestines also should be taken out the same way they did to the hapless girl. The argument that the death sentence will not result in stopping future rapes,does not hold good.
It is tough isn't it, yes, it is very tough to forgive, it is very tough to rehabilitate, reform and then accept these men back into society. So, what are you then, as for me I think I am tough enough, what about you. For how long are you going to take the easy way out. Justice of vengeance, an eye for an eye, and the whole world will go blind, can you remember who said that. Are you a barbarian or a civilized person, are you tough enough to male difficult choices. If you kill them, then how will I be able to see the difference between them and you.
Groups of Human rights acts as a enemy of society..
Right group are formed to protect rapists and criminals notfor human beings....
Rapists should be raped before being given capital punishment.
Death sentence is never a crime deterrent. There is no evidence worldwide that there is correlation between death sentence and reduced crime.rates let alone causation. This can be evident by comparing countries with and without death sentence as part of law. What happened here is revenge in a sense. Whether the victim's family deserve this right to revenge is not for me to judge.
Death sentence is right at the moment: Government to take a huge campaign informing would be rapists that they could face death for their atrocities.
@Noor 1. Rapes are not taken in desserts. Somewhere there is a witness. 2. What is the sense of feeding them and for them to meet their families in prison? 3. Do you think that this juvenile will have a comfortable life once he comes out? He is condemned and will be condemn in future. 4. Better policing, fast track courts, quicker paperwork, higher conviction rates & higher empathy for victims. This can only happen with 'people power' which India has learned now and acted on it to happen.
@Noor: these rapists if not executed will be out of the prison within a couple of years as there won't be enough prisons to accommodate these barbarians. Meenakshi Ganguly would be singing a different tune if it was her own daughter. These masked men should be arrested and there should be a thorough investigation into who they are representing and who is responsible for these demonstrations. Human rights indeed! No rights for a hapless woman and look at the love for these elements. I don't want to call them animals because I don't want to insult those poor poor creations of God. I'm an animal lover you see!
sitting in a cozy western world and meaningless sermon of "rights group" has no footings. they, for sure, will understand when one of their own is tortured and killed by these beasts.
A death sentence is a dangerous precedent. 1. Future molestors are unlikely to leave rape victims alive to testify against them,if they feel a death sentence can be handed to them,if they get caught. 2. Death is too easy & quick- long decades in prison will be more unpleasant. 3. The juvenile who actually did the killing part with the rod on the girl,got off easy,while the adults are getting death sentences for juniors frenzy & blood lust. 4. For a country to curb rape,there should be better policing,fast track courts, quicker paperwork,higher conviction rates & higher empathy for victims.
Are the Human Rights groups forgetting the rights of the person who has lost her life. If you willing (and without justice, which only a state can decide) takes some one else right to live, you lose your right to live.
I dont understand who gives them any airs??not even the craziest person with an aimless life hears them...crazy people with crazy thoughts...emptying there energy for useless feats...
These rapists should be handed over to the so called rights groups as live in guests. Lets see how effective can education be on these beasts.
“Executing these men won’t bring back the woman they raped or reverse India’s rape crisis. The only way to stop rape before it starts is with a massive public education campaign,” the online activist network said."
it may not bring back the woman but certainly punishment is awarded to deter. definitely it will help reduce the crimes . Also to be noted the death sentence is not for rape but because of brutal murder after the rape. it is the brutality which placed the murder in rarest of rare category for which death sentence is the only punishment. Public protests and demand will lead to many legal reforms relating the rape cases.