South Asia favours tough rape laws – but must also eliminate its cultures of sexual violence

In 2019, India witnessed a 6% increase in reported rapes. In 2020, Bangladesh recorded more than four rapes per day. In Pakistan, an average of 11 rapes are reported daily. As a consequence, these countries have come to exemplify the term “rape culture” – a context in which sexual violence is normalised by prevailing cultural norms about gender and sexuality.

At protests against sexual violence across the region, participants inevitably seem to wave signboards demanding, “Hang the rapists.” Governments too are sympathetic to such calls and lawmakers in South Asia are under pressure to appear tough on such crimes and come across as sensitive to the demands of their citizens.

In the last few months, there have been reports of the Bangladesh government approving measures to allow for the death penalty for rapists, Maharashtra proposing the death penalty for rape and Pakistan proposing a bill that mandates castration for perpetrators of rape. Citizens have lauded these moves.

However, these decisions, prompted by public outcry, have little to do with factual research about whether they will be effective. Experts say that these moves are misguided and will do very little to prevent rape.

Collectivist contexts

Hard measures for sexual violence fail to address the problem of rape being rooted in cultures that endorse and normalise sexual violence. Statistics show that in the majority of the cases in South Asia, rape survivors actually know their attackers – they are relatives or friends. The popular culture trope of “stranger danger” accounts for a smaller number of rapes. This is a key piece of research that is not considered when constructing rape laws.

It is really hard to imagine a law that could successfully deter an uncle from raping a niece or someone raping a friend. Acts such as these are based on an unequal power dynamic between individuals, where violence is used as a means to exert power over the other.

By creating severe sanctions for rape, the underlying issues of an unequal power dynamic are ignored. The entire responsibility of dealing with a nation’s sexual violence problem is placed in the criminal justice system, entirely ignoring how society is allowing the culture of violence to thrive.

Besides, most South Asian countries are collectivist contexts. They emphasise the group over the individual. In contexts like these, the likelihood that help is sought from the police is low. Instead, survivors turn to family members or social support groups.

The stigma associated with being a rape survivor often discourages the individual from filing an official complaint. Survivors are encouraged to uphold family honour over their need to access justice.

Another misguided fact about punitive measures is their ability to deter individuals from committing the crime. Most criminal laws are premised on the phenomenon of deterrence. However, evidence suggests that the death penalty has no deterrent effect on sexual violence as it fundamentally ignores the deeply embedded, structural causes of sexual violence.

Ultimately, when criminal justice systems do not support a rape survivor’s access to justice and are ill-equipped to deal with rape, severe sanctions such as castration and the death penalty simply serve as eyewash.

An effective way

While perpetrators of sexual violence must receive severe sanctions, it is imperative to address the culture of violence that society endorses and normalises. There needs to be a cultural shift. Work needs to be done to create a culture that promotes discussions around the roots of sexual violence.

It should begin with normalising sex. Sex education could help with that. The collectivist ideals of upholding honour over the individual need to be undone. Governments must frame policies and programmes that promote gender equality.

They must encourage interventions that openly discuss cultural and social norms that encourage sexual violence. Awareness and education is the way forward. The more that is known about “rape culture” the better-equipped society is to handle it.

Systemically, several changes need to be considered. Currently, India has a conviction rate of 30% for rape, with abysmally slow court proceedings. In Bangladesh, survivors often lack the ability and confidence in reporting rape to authorities. It was only recently, that Pakistan outlawed the two-finger test on rape survivors citing that it violates the dignity of women.

These countries have criminal justice systems that are ill-equipped to deal with rape and the stigma of being a survivor of rape are highly prevalent.

Each country needs to examine their rape laws. Before the sentencing part of the criminal justice process, investigations of rape need to be strengthened. Poor police investigations should no longer be the reason why perpetrators of rape are not prosecuted. By providing services for survivors and training officials in the criminal justice system to work with survivors, problems relating to the reporting of rape will be addressed.

As these aspects of the system are strengthened, work needs to be done to implement laws better. The focus needs to be on shorter court proceeding times, with higher rates of conviction.

Ultimately, harsh sanctions for perpetrators of rape are needed – but they will be of no use if the system does not support survivors. There is a need to create contexts where survivors can report rape and trust that the system will help deliver justice.

Instead of lauding South Asian laws that are “tough on rape”, it is time to fix broken justice processes and start addressing the culture of sexual violence that afflicts our societies.

Ntasha Bhardwaj is a Doctoral Candidate at the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University and the Founder of the South Asian Institute of Crime and Justice Studies.