If it weren’t for the rash of “punishing the victim” stories of late, this story would seem just plain medieval. But with that thoroughly depressing context, I suppose it’s just sadly bittersweet – Primitive justice: Father killed for raping daughter –
Manju was raped by her father, Rajvir repeatedly for the last 6 months and even though her mother and brothers knew about it, they were helpless. …Fed up with this daily abuse, one evening when Rajvir dragged Manju into a room, her mother called her uncles for help. The mother however, could not have anticipated what happened next. In a bid to protect Manju’s honour, the uncles beat Rajvir to death. …The police have arrested both men on charges of murder and booked them under IPC section 302…In a country where it takes years to solve a rape case and where the rapist often goes scot free, this was an instance where the victim’s family took the law into their own hands and meted out what they called justice.
Sigh.
Poor girl. Feel sorry for her. Wonder how the tribal ‘damaged goods’ thinking will impede her future. On the same note, wonder if the backlog of cases is yet another demonstration of the govt excessive meddling. Not enough people seem ‘incentivized’ to get into law and there is chronic lack of highly qualified judges to close cases. Until the 60’s India did have a jury system, but it was deemed too easily corruptible and hence all cases are decided by judges. This implies having additional judges (compared to a jury system) or establishing alternative mechanisms to resolve these cases in a speedy manner without having to resort to vigilantism. Where is Judge Judy (or Jhansi) when you need her?
Hmmm…so I’d like to hear a defense of the U.S. death penalty from one of the many conservatives who comment on this blog, in light of this “primal justice” slaying 😉
Saurav,
Not sure how you would assume that a defense or rejection of ‘primal slaying’ (no trial) would correspond to an equivalent (or even a related) position on capital punishment (with trial). A related idea, to ‘primal slaying’, would be detention of unlawful combatants sans charges or counsel after the beginning of the War on Terror.
It was somewhat of a snarky point, but the argument woudl run that, ultimately, the primary impulse behind capital punishment and other harsh punishments in the U.S. in this day and age is a concept of justice that relies on primarily retribution. Just listen to all the arguments for “victims’ rights.”
But I agree with you that they are different in many respects–and think that the implications of your argument is that capital punishment is worse. Capital punishment takes the “primal” impulses and gives them the legitimacy of law and the state.
Well Saurav, I wasn’t aiming for that conclusion (I don’t think capital punishment is worse than ‘primal slaying’), you put words in my mouth. Since we are anyway off tangent, I find the standard conservative pro-tissue position on capital punishment “interesting”. How can one launch massive campaigns fighting tissue-abortion, or support permanent vegetative ‘life’, but not flinch a bit when people are put to death. Not to mention the macabre spectacle of a group of people watching a person die before their eyes. Very barbaric. If crime prevention were the issue, it seems to me that enabling tissue abortion would potentially stop millions of unwanted births, thus stopping thousands of criminals (assuming the same distribution of criminals in the population). As the authors of Freakonomics argue, Roe Wade probably had more impact on crime prevention than ‘tough police’, moral education or any such public activites.
how ironic this thread/msg by Babloo turns a rape into a Roe v. Wade put down. Wow.
Regardless of how this was taken care of, the fact that these things happen in India, America, wherever still hurts our society in ways we have yet to recognize. If there could be a time where women are not subordinate to men or other concerns, I often wonder where society would be?
Let’s not make this a debate about death penalty or abortion for the dignity of this rape survivor. Instead, think of ways that these situations (the rape) should not occur in our society. That is how this woman’s life can be vindicated.
good, this guy got off easy just being beat to death. What a sick motherfucker, raping his daughter. He should’ve been tortured first.
“Yes, he deserved to die! And I hope he burns in hell!”