Tough Florida rape law: way for India?

NEW DELHI: Outraged by the rape and killing of a nine-year-old girl, Florida has signed a law imposing a tough penalty on child molesters. Memorial service for Jessica Lunsford. (Photo: Reuters)The measure, signed on Monday, gives Florida one of the toughest child-sex laws in the world. The Jessica Lunsford Act, drafted within two months after Jessica's death in March, was pushed through unanimously by both Houses.The Jessica was raped, bound and buried alive after she was kidnapped from her bed while her grandparents were asleep in another part of the house in Homosassa, Florida. A convicted sex offender, John Evander Couey, 46, was charged in the case. A registered sex offender, Couey's criminal record includes 24 arrests, including for burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. The new law establishes a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life behind bars or even death for people convicted of certain sex crimes against children 11 years of age and younger, with lifetime tracking by global positioning satellite after they are freed. Under the new Florida law, other offenders could also face capital punishment because it allows a defendant's status as a sexual predator to be considered as an aggravating factor during sentencing for a murder. India has a lesson to learn here. Why just the girl child, thousands of women are subjected to rape and sex crimes across India. A file photo of Jessica Lunsford.According to the National Crime Records Bureau, in 2003, there were 490 incidents of rape, 489 cases of molestation and 105 registered cases of eve-teasing. An astounding number of working women (91 per cent) have been victims of harassment and eve-teasing at some point of time. In India's ostensibly safest city Mumbai, a rape is reported almost every day, according to official figures. The national Capital has the dubious distinction of being tagged the rape capital of India with more than one rape a day. While the police claim steps have been taken to reduce crimes against women, it hasn't acted as a deterrent. The abysmal record of convictions for rape doesn't help either. The last execution for rape and murder in India was that of Dhananjoy Chatterjee in Kolkata on August 14, last year. Going by the legislation of the new law,... ...US may be quick to convict rapists, Indian justice system is infamous for its inordinate delay. John Couey during his court hearing. (Photo: Reuters)Dhananjay was executed 14 years after the trial court ordered it, and not without vociferously opposition from human rights groups. Any attempt to even pass a law similar to Jessica Lunsford Act would get entangled in bureaucracy and die a certain death in the House politics. In the existing system, the common man has little to look forward to, with legislators clamouring for air safety in the august house rather than cleansing the streets of sick, sexual predators. Will India ever wake up to the need for a stringent sex crime legislation? US has just paved the way, will India follow suit?