Arguments made for and against castration as an additional form of punishment for rapists and child sex abusers:

Rape/Sexual Abuse is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable in a modern civilized society . The judiciary came up with a statement for implementing castration as a punishment in rape cases. Castration means either removing testicles (physically) in males or making it dysfunctional by the use of chemicals.

Arguments in Favour of Castration as Punishment:

• Heinous crimes like child abuses/rapes can be deterred greatly by its enactment.
• It seems to be the one of the prudent way to deal with growing sexual-crimes in India. As other laws have been proved quite mild.
• “Impotency” will not only eliminate the sexual desire to a great extent but also it will shame the offenders socially too.
• It will bring a  fear in the mind of the rapists and seems to be the only solution to stop this inhuman activity.
• It is an equivalent punishment to rape.
•  Lack of testes and hence no sexual feelings.
• Has been proved quite successful in other countries like Russia, Middle-Eastern countries etc.

 

Arguments against Castration as Punishment:

• It will not be gender neutral. What about when the offender is a female? By the ongoing practices around the world it is a law for the males only.
• Non-reversal nature in case if it is physical-castration. Even in Chemical one lots of complications.
• Offenders might resort to eliminate the victim in order to erase evidence witness .
• What about Old persons who have already passed the sexual age as abuses are not “penetrative” nature only and in this regard the law seems to be narrow.
• Family(wife) has to suffer, owing to the fact that divorce is still devoured by the society especially in rural areas it(divorce) is impractical in present times at least.
• Adverse effect on the rapist and he may turn violent.

“An eye for a eye will make the whole world blind”. What difference does it make to make a convict go through the same pain and hardship? Until and unless our education system changes, sex education is brought up, and the prevailing prejudices is removed regarding a boy and girl communicating since childhood, these inhuman practices cannot be stopped. Also, a physical ill-treatment cannot put an end to a person’s insomniac brain.

Also, borrowing a law or practice which is not indigenous to a place requires lots of work,modification and customisation .

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