Women Lawyers Fight India's Rapists in Court

[Guest guest]

NEW DELHI, Mar 5, 2007 (Reuters): A female crime fighting unit is

trying to stem the tide of sexual attacks against women in India,

where up until recently rapists were almost never punished for their

crimes.

 

The victims often refuse to pursue their attackers through the

courts due to threats, payoffs, or out of shame in their traditional

society which often blames the victim for the attack.

 

" It's not an easy job trying to bring these people to justice. But

we are at it, as this is the beginning of a longer process to

address this menace, " said female lawyer Aparna Bhat, who heads

the " Rape Crisis Cell. "

 

The cell is a dedicated unit with three female lawyers empowered to

represent the city's rape victims -- which sometimes include

children and even babies -- under a local government initiative to

curb sex crimes in the Indian capital.

 

The lawyers' dedication is a far cry from the past when overworked

and often disinterested government lawyers prosecuted such crimes in

India's courts.

 

" The biggest problem was we couldn't represent the victims in court

because under India law, only the public prosecutor can represent

the victim. This has been changed now, " Bhat said.

 

Bhat's team criss-cross Delhi and nearby towns attempting to

persuade rape victims to speak up and fight for justice. Many rapes

are never reported to police.

 

" Just recently we got a life sentence. That's unheard of, " Bhat

said, commenting on the difficulty of securing the maximum sentence

available in a justice system widely seen as corrupt.

 

CHILDREN UNDER ATTACK

 

Child victims are hardest to deal with and they make up a disturbing

number of cases: about 40 percent of the rape cases being handled by

Bhat's team involve girls under 18 years of age.

 

" Children are really scared to speak against known people, and in

most cases, it is someone known to them who rapes the child, " she

explained.

 

Last year, in Delhi a father raped his 10-year-old daughter for a

month. Eventually the girl told a neighbor who took her to the

police.

 

The man, a daily-wage laborer, was arrested but when the case came

up in court, the girl changed her mind, saying her father was

innocent, she loved him and wanted to go home.

 

The case began to fall apart -- until Bhat arrived.

 

" It was clear she had been threatened, " she said. " It showed on her

face. We persuaded her to speak the truth, assuring her nothing will

happen to her. She spoke the truth and the man was sentenced to

life. Had we not been there, the case would have been closed. "

 

The youngest victim Bhat is handling is an 18-month-old child, raped

by a pavement dweller in December 2005. The girl, whose parents are

homeless laborers, still suffers from pain and bleeding from the

attack.

 

" Thank God the mother was determined to fight the case so we could

represent the child. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult

for us to nail the culprit, " Bhat said.

 

The case in still before the courts.

 

Hundreds of people migrate every day to Delhi, a sprawling

metropolis of more than 14 million people, from neighboring smaller

towns and villages in search of a more prosperous life.

 

But the transient nature of many of the city's neighborhoods also

leads to increased crime, commentators say.

 

" People don't know each other, making it easier to commit crimes

like rape, " said Ranjana Kumari, who heads the Center for Social

Research, a think-tank.

 

Kumari also blames an overburdened judicial system and a lack of

government action for the small number of rape convictions.

 

" The system is very insensitive and unsympathetic to rape victims, "

she said. " We have been fighting for a special fast-track court for

rapes but there has been no response from the government so far. "

 

SOURCE: Reuters. Women lawyers fight India's rapists in court

Mon Mar 5, 2007 12:01PM EST By Palash Kumar

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSDEL567120070305?

src=030507_1342_FEATURES_international

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