After the rape and murder of a lady doctor in Kolkata a lot of hue and cry has arisen about stamping out crimes against women such as rape.

Working Women’s Safety: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerji moved a Bill in the State Legislature providing for harsh punishment for rape. The Bill has been passed by the State Legislature, and awaits approval by President Murmu, who too has condemned crimes against women

Explained: Mamata Banerjee’s New Law For Death Penalty In Rape Cases

I respectfully share these sentiments.. Rape and other crimes against women are a disgrace to a society and deserve harsh punishment.

In my judgment in the Supreme Court in Satya Narain Tiwari vs. State of UP (which can be seen online) I said: “The hallmark of a healthy society is the respect it shows to women. Indian society has become a sick society”. In that case, I had said that the death penalty should be given in cases of dowry deaths. In our country, young married women are often killed – because they did not bring enough dowry – by pouring kerosene on them and setting them on fire or hanging/strangling them. Our courts have many such cases. This is a barbaric practice, and no mercy should be shown to such people.

In Bhagwan Das Vs. State (NCT) of Delhi (see online), I said that death penalty should be given for “honour” killing of young couples who are killed by their relatives or caste panchayats because their marriage was inter-caste or inter-religious, or was disapproved of for some other reason.
In my opinion, crimes against women are not ordinary crimes, they are social crimes. They disrupt the entire social fabric, and hence call for harsh punishment.

When a man respects his wife, the child of such a couple sees that justice was done to his mother, who was physically weaker than his father. Hence such a child, when he grows up, becomes a brave fighter against injustice. But if he sees his father beating or otherwise mistreating his mother he thinks that oppression and ill-treatment of the weaker is the normal way of functioning, and hence when he grows up he becomes an oppressor or a coward. A society in which a large number of women are maltreated becomes a sick society, as Indian society has become.

I am therefore entirely with others in condemning crimes against women, including rape.
However, what I wish to submit is that such crimes cannot be done away with without destroying the feudal remnants and practices persisting in our society, which are still widespread. What else is caste-ism and communalism?

To do away with feudal thinking and practices requires a long period of struggle and patient persuasion among our people by the enlightened, modern minded, section of our society, because most men in India even today regard women as inferior (although IQ tests in psychology have shown that the IQ of an average woman is the same as that of an average man). This means that the scientific outlook and scientific temper must be spread to every nook and corner of our country.

Some people think that since I have mentioned unemployment as the main cause of rape in our country, I am trying to ignore or undermine the seriousness of rape. That is entirely incorrect. I have always condemned crimes against women including rape; The problem of rape; The issue of rape By Justice Katju; Hathras Gangrape: ‘Sex Is a Natural Urge in Men’, Says Markandey Katju; Blames Unemployment For Rising Rape Cases | Slammed For Bizarre Logic; Hathras gang rape: Rise in rape cases due to increasing unemployment, says Markandey Katju

What I am saying is that crimes against women will continue (despite all the hue and cry raised against it and despite making harsh laws against it) as long as feudal remnants and feudal thinking, and massive unemployment, persist in Indian society. In feudal society, women are regarded as inferior to men, and hence ill treatment of women is regarded almost like ill-treatment of animals, that is, a matter of not much importance.

Hence the issue of rape and other crimes against women cannot be considered or resolved in isolation. It can be resolved only by wiping out unemployment, destroying the feudal elements in our society, and by spreading scientific and rational thinking widely.

This is possible only by creating a political and social order in which there is rapid industrialisation, thus creating millions of jobs, and wiping out unemployment. And such a political and social order can only be created by a mighty protracted people’s struggle and a revolution, which results in fundamental changes in the social system in our country.

Without this, one can keep shouting and screaming against rape or other crimes against women, but it will be of no avail; The Coming Great Revolution in India; India’s moment of turbulent revolution is here, and it’s going to be long and bloody, writes Justice Markandey Katju; Justice Markandey Katju: The coming great revolution in India

As regards making laws against rape and other cimes against women more harsh, in my opinion this will be of no avail because without a fundamental change in the social system such laws will remain only on paper. All they will achieve is to provide another handle to the police to make money by corruption through extortion.

Moreover, the punishment for rape under the existing law in India is already very harsh ( minimum 10 years rigorous imprisonment ); IPC Section 376

How much harsher can it get ? In fact by making it harsher will be an inducement to commit murder after the rape ( as was done to the lady doctor in Kolkata ) because the rapist would not like a witness