Every day we go through a newspaper, we come across horrifying stories of rape and murder. From children to adult girls, no one is actually safe from the clutches of mentally sick people sneaking around to swoop down on anyone they get within their reach. With every passing day, the situation is going out of control, with the accounts of brutality inflicted on the victims getting more terrifying day by day. Under such circumstances, there is no alternative to going tough on the criminals.
Against this backdrop, the interim government has decided in principle to amend the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, reducing trial and investigation time and introducing a dedicated tribunal for child rape cases. We welcome the move by the interim government to amend the existing laws with a view to expediting rape trials.

For long, loopholes in the laws have been a serious chink in the armour of our legal system. Especially when it comes to rape trials, victims are often shamed while the perpetrators roam around scot-free without any feeling of remorse or retribution. A quick look at recent stats will make it easier to understand. In order to find out the reason behind the increasing number of rape cases, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) collected verdicts of 104 rape cases from various courts located in different districts of the country back in 2018. A relevant study by the PBI published last February revealed that the accused in only 11.54 per cent of those cases were convicted while the acquittal rate was 88.46 per cent.

In addition to this, it is often seen that community religious leaders and local politicians often try to settle things on their own in rape incidents as in many cases, the rapist turns out to be an acquaintance or close relative of the victim. All these, further compounded by a culture of impunity, are contributing to rising rape incidents in the country.
But enough is enough. Such blatant abuse and violence against women must come to an end. We urge the government to make sure that amendments are done in the shortest possible time. It is equally important to ensure that the rape trials are actually concluded within 90 days and criminals are being tried. Only then, the yahoos will think twice before committing such a heinous crime.