Both the accused in this case have been acquitted by the Children’s Court for want of evidence or refusal by the key witness to testify. It was widely believed Scarlett a fifteen-year-old British teen on a holiday in Goa was drugged, raped and murdered.
Here is an open and shut case of rape and murder of the victim. Two autopsies were conducted and the cause of death was Homicide. Indian legal system always endorses on Evidence or key witnesses which form a backbone for any case to stand trial before the law and the case then trails for years during which there is a change of judges, or death of key witnesses or key witnesses are lured monetarily to refuse to testify before the court. Such cases should be tried in fast track courts and rape should be legalised as a serious offence like in many foreign countries where the rapists are arrested and locked in and sent for chemical castration and have a little scope for a free and a fair trial. But for this there has to be a legislation enacted by the Parliament and in the absence of such legislation Rapes will continue in India. The Nirbaya case of 2012 was a trend setter to enact such a legislation.
Inspite of so many cases of rapes and even murder of rape victims we do not have proper laws to deal with rapes and rapists. Goa will again be on the radar as some foreign tourists visiting Goa as a beautiful place has been ‘raped’ earlier and their respective Embassies have lodged strong protests with the Government of India and it should respect the fundamental rights of all tourists when they are on the Indian soil. Will the Custodian of the Constitution Act once again taking this travesty of justice into consideration to safeguard the lives of all women in India.
Indian political society has always been male dominated. Had we to have a woman PM like Indira Gandhi such a legislation protecting every girl child or safety of women would have seen light of the day much earlier. However we still have a powerful External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who can steer for such legislation with the help of women Parliamentarians.
