The suggestion of Hon. Kazaure that rape victims should be castrated is an emotive suggestion that should not be allowed.
Rape itself is an emotional disorder. It is a malaise that must be dug from its roots and not with high or long term or maim punishment laws. Those laws do not work in our clime. They also portend the likelihood of danger to suspects who will hardly enjoy the true benefit of the doubt. Lawyers who have handled rape cases have told stories of drama by the supposed victims in the witness box.
Most importantly, we are emotional people. When the punishment is so high, the police who arrested the culprit does not want such punishment for him. He will gladly receive bribe and turn the case upside down. The judge too is not interested but will be constrained to apply the law when He has to. The victim's family will be approached and they will yield to subtle blackmail. Justice hardly happens in such situation. With 21 years imprisonment for examination malpractices, how many cheats have been convicted?
I was at the Law Week of the Kano branch in 2014 and the topic was about rape. The Judge representing the CJ told the gathering that as part of effort to curb the menace, the judiciary had decided to direct all matters of rape to female judges. People clapped. But I drew the attention of the Learned Judge to the fact that there was bias already because it connoted an emotive instruction to convict.
When a crime becomes so rampant as this, government owes a duty to mobilise the social structures: the churches and mosques to direct their teachings against that malaise over time; the parents/families to be up and doing in their responsibilities and be prepared for embarrassment for deriliction; the social workers and educationists to educate the girl-child and parents about security and avoidance of such situations; the traditional institutions to not allow shielding and to provide support for victims especially those who may not want to be identified because of the stigma and throw up traditional remedies including the fear of the gods...
The law will complete the job with punishment. The existing laws could be fortified with add-ons which could even be dependent on undertakings to be made by parents or guardians.
It is important to regulate and enforce laws dealing with pornography and deal with indecent dressings. Rape is a malaise all through generations. But today's youths lack the required attention and our society stand to pay heavily for it.
The law as per punishment is adequate. It is the socials that require debate and the laws to support them. And perhaps when we reach the level that the state is required to pay compensation for the acts of its citizens as converse of the citizens paying for infractions, government will be more alive to its responsibilities. Let's debate that!
*S. O. K. Shillings Esq.(The Pen Master) *
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