Hyderabad Rape Case: Will Hanging Convicts Decrease Rape Cases, Asks Aparna Sen

Amid growing demands by lawmakers and common people for violent forms of punishment for the accused in the Hyderabad rape and murder case, filmmaker Aparna Sen asked if hanging the rapists would bring down crimes against women in India. 

“The perpetrators of Dr. Reddy’s rape & murder will probably will be hanged. The whole country is baying for their blood, and with due cause. It is the most horrific of crimes. But then what? There won’t be any more rapes? The rate of rape will substantially decrease?” Sen said on Twitter. 

In another tweet Sen said, “I truly doubt it! There’s something ‘rotten in the state of Denmark’ and that’s what has to be explored and addressed!”

Sen’s remarks were made in the light of several lawmakers like Jaya Bachchan and TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty saying the rapists should be lynched in public. 

After saying the public should be left to judge what to do with the four people have been arrested in the incident, Bachchan said outside Parliament , “If you have not been able to provide security then leave it to the public to give judgement.”

DMK’s P Wilson, meanwhile, said courts should be empowered to surgically and chemically castrate convicted rapists before they are released from jails to check repeat offenders.

While some social media users have also demanded similar violent punishments for the alleged rapists, others have said what Sen pointed out. 

Huffpost India had reported on Monday that Twitter users were left aghast by Bachchan’s tone deaf comments and said law of the land must prevail. 

The charred body of a 26-year-old veterinarian was found on 28 November in Hyderabad. Investigations reveal that the woman was raped, strangulated and murdered and her body was set on fire after. 

The incident took place after she got stranded near a toll plaza in Hyderabad and the perpetrators offered to help. The remand report of the accused, who have been arrested and remanded to 14 days judicial custody,  has reveal that they plotted the entire thing when the noticed the woman parking her scooter at the toll plaza. 

The four accused in the case, identified as Mohammed Areef, Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu, were arrested on Friday.