Death penalty for rapists an imperative

Rape in any form is murder! It kills the victim in more ways than one and in most cases, it is an excruciatingly slow death that could last a lifetime, in the event the victim is not murdered, (most often in despicable fashion), in the final throes of this loathsome act. Shouldn’t murder therefore be punishable by the like?

Even for those who aren’t ideologues of capital punishment, there is ample reason to call for the death penalty for rapists, especially those who are caught in the act and even more so, those who show no remorse and know that they can get out of jail in a short time to continue with their nauseating actions, as well as young men who hide behind the cloak of being a minor but have in very adult fashion defiled a woman or a child.

The naysayers will always have an argument, but if it is your five-year-old or 13-year-old who has been repeatedly raped, simply because she or he was at the wrong place at the right time, would you continue your nay-saying? Wouldn’t an implemented death penalty actually make these rapists stop and think twice about what they are about to do and hopefully seek redemption?

For a country that is very proud of its heritage, culture and roots in religion, Sri Lanka has surely sunk to an all-time low! Rape, as some are wont to say, has happened for centuries and more so in the last few decades. But does that mean we, as a nation, should remain silent and watch, as these vile perpetrators get away or better still, serve an otiose prison sentence and walk out, just to repeat the offense once more or multiple times more? Aren’t we also then accessories to murder?

Congratulations to the Minister of Child Development and Women’s Affairs Tissa Karaliyedda for calling for the death penalty for rapists and to the Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapter for calling for deterrents to be introduced for child abuse without fear or favour. Hats off to the media too, which has taken on the cause and begun highlighting and reporting instances of rape.

However, thousands of such cases go unreported, especially in incestuous or neighbourly/community circumstances. The shame and stigma attached to the victims plays a vital role in this suppression, while in some cases there is a tendency to blame the victim for the rape, rather than mete out the applicable punishment to the rapist.

With sex and therefore rape being a subject that is taboo and thus never spoken of or publicised by us as a nation because it is not acceptable in our culture, it is high time that it does become more than a whisper behind closed doors.

It is our responsibility as adults, as custodians of our children, to ensure that they live and play in a safe environment. Our apathy, complacency and silence just pave the path for yet another child or woman to be raped by evil animals who masquerade as human beings.

While communities must be more vigilant and responsible in caring for their children and ensure safety for their womenfolk, the implementation of the death penalty would be the singular and most crucial imperative that can actually decimate the evil vileness of rape in our country.

As concerned parents, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, sisters and brothers, we all want to see the streets safe for the women and children of Sri Lanka, which although blessed with an abundance of natural resources, continues to host a segment of people who defile the very foundations of civilisation.

We want a nation where those age-old values of respect for women will once again emerge; where children are cared for with love and joy, rather than with lecherous lust and where we can proudly hold our heads high and call ourselves the ‘Wonder of Asia’.

Savithri Rodrigo