India Mulls Chemical Castration For Rapists

In an attempt to further deter crimes against women in India, Congress, the country’s ruling party, has decided to propose chemical castration of rapists, along with other strict measures.

The draft note for the proposal has not yet been finalized, but once it is it will be submitted to a Committee led by Justice J.S. Verma.

The International Business Times reports that the Committee was set up by India’s government after the massive public outrage following the Delhi gang rape of a 23-year-old woman, who died from her injuries.

The bill, along with chemical castration for rapists, reportedly also includes laws like imprisonment up to 30 years for rapists. Legal experts have also raised the possibility of reducing the age limit of those legally called “juveniles” from 18 to 15.

The question of changing the juvenile justice act began after the Delhi rape case, where one of the rapists, who reportedly inflicted the most damage on the victim, is a juvenile.

Because of his status as a juvenile, however, he will likely be let off with a mild punishment, because the juvenile law provisions don’t allow for strict punishments, even in a heinous crime situation.

The bill by the Congress party was drafted after the party spent time speaking with the Women and Child Development Ministry, which is headed by stakeholders and Krishna Tirath.

Russia Today adds that the Indian government has also heard calls from the Bharatiya Janata Party to hold an emergency parliamentary session. The session would discuss women’s safety in light of the 23-year-old woman’s death after she was brutally beaten and raped by six men. She and a male friend were beaten with iron bars, while she was raped repeatedly for close to an hour.

The unidentified woman died at a hospital in Singapore from multiple organ failure. Do you think that chemical castration would be an effective punishment for rapists?