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New Delhi: The union Cabinet's decision last week to bring in amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code to help rape victims, including having women judges and conducting trial in the homes of the victims, may sound good on paper but it is not practically feasible, say legal experts.
The first hitch in implementing the recommendations is that there are not enough women judges. According to the latest data provided by the ministry of law and justice, there are only 39 women judges in high courts across the country and in the Supreme Court as compared to 556 male judges.
No favour
The recommendation has also not found favour with legal luminaries.
Voicing his unhappiness, senior criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani said: "The distinction between male and female judges is unconstitutional and I am totally against it. I understand that a female judge can understand better the feeling of a rape victim, but drawing a line among sexes is unnecessary."
Other recommendations of the Cabinet are to conduct in-camera trial of rape cases and carrying out the trial at the home of the victim so that she is saved the embarrassment of being summoned to the police station.
A lady police officer should also be present at the time of recording the statement, it says.
"The abysmally low number of women judges has been raised several times. The government should first work towards addressing this anomaly so that these recommendations can be implemented," said Jethmalani.
Senior lawyer Kamini Jaiswal, who specialises in cases related to crime against women, is against recording of statements of rape victims at their home.
"The recommendation allowing the police to go and record the statement of the victim at her home is absurd. This will bring more shame to her. It will be like a public display of her pain," she said.
"What will you do about the defence counsel, who generally asks nasty questions thereby humiliating the victims of rape cases? Will the government also ensure that in such cases only female defence counsels are allowed to fight the case?" asks Jaiswal. Another recommendation is that the trial of rape cases should be over in three months.
"We welcome the move that a rape trial would be done expeditiously, but for that the investigating agency will have to be sensitive," said R.K. Naseem, a criminal lawyer.
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