An activist who has long advocated for child rights tells Brut India why she doesn't think that death penalty for rapists is the answer.
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00:00We've had about 20% of our children who had to shift their residence after the incident.
00:0826% who had to move out of their school.
00:11They were either pushed out of school or had to move there.
00:30Since we work with a lot of children and their families, children who are sexually abused
00:45and their families, we know for sure that there are all kinds of fears that they live
00:51with which have to be addressed first.
00:54Death penalty is not the first thing that comes to people's minds.
00:58They don't want the policeman to be asking all kinds of ridiculous questions before registering the FIR.
01:04They don't want to be in the police station for hours and at the end of 12 hours you're told
01:12Kho gaya jao and you don't even get a copy of your FIR.
01:15They don't want doctors to be telling them don't get your medical examination done.
01:19It can ruin your reputation.
01:21They don't want landlords to tell them you please leave because the police is coming
01:27to the house every day in and day out and we don't like it.
01:30So they want those basics corrected.
01:34The testimony starts after six months in some good cases but most cases it takes longer than that.
01:42In the cases that we've been dealing with, about 126 cases.
01:49In only 11% we managed to get the testimony recorded within 30 days as given in the law.
02:10It is nothing but giving something as a lollipop to people who wanted a quick fix solution.
02:18Nothing else.
02:19There's such a disconnect in the problem you've identified and the response you're seeking.
02:24When you're mad, when it's madness of that kind because rapes are a reflection of the society,
02:32of yourself as much.
02:35You just look for something that will satisfy you and that's how I think people reacted.
02:41But what happened to the government?
02:44Government is supposed to be thinking.
02:47You don't have to follow what the mob says.
02:50We've seen that in some of the cases where the accused has had this fear of being caught
02:58that he's gotten rid of the evidence.
03:00Somebody who fears death would definitely not want it by any means.
03:08And it's only logical to think that they will get rid of the evidence, which is the child.