Disha Bill: The new ‘stringent’ rape law of Andhra

The terrifying incident of abduction and rape of the 26 year old veterinary doctor Priyanka
Reddy in the city of Hyderabad on the 27th of November shook the nation. The impotency of the
laws and the negligence from the police department’s end lead to another horrifying incident
which witnessed nationwide protests. The public was already disappointed and angry by what
had happened exactly 6 years back in December 2012 in Delhi, but the Law-Keepers once again
failed to ensure the safety of women, who are ironically worshipped in the country. Following
this, another case of a lady came forward who was set ablaze by the accused while she was on
her way to attend a court hearing. She counted her last breath in Safdurjung hospital in Delhi
after battling her injuries. This again is not a matter of one or two incidents, the incidents of
atrocities against women have doubled in the past 17 years. On an average, 67 women were
raped every day in the course of these 17 years. Although these statistics insanely petrifying, it
seems the concerned authorities are too busy playing the Game of Thrones in different states.
There have already been a lot of discourses in the past about the fact that India lacks strong rape
laws, but little has been taken into account or implemented. The long-term dissatisfaction and
resentment among people lead to widespread protests across the country after the accused in the
Priyanka Reddy case were caught. Magnitude of public’s anger had risen to a level wherein
people demanded that the accused should be handed over to the crowd and be left for lynching.

Owing to the immense pressure made by the public on the legislators this time, the Andhra
Pradesh State Assembly introduced the Andhra Pradesh Disha Bill,2019 (Andhra Pradesh
Criminal Amendment Act, 2019) . The bill has been introduced to expedite the judicial process
in matters like rape and sexual violence in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

What are the features of this bill?

Disha is the name given to Priyanka Reddy who was brutally raped and murdered in Hyderabad.
The bill brings in some changes to the existing laws for rape and sexual violence against women
and children.

Firstly, it introduces death penalty for rape crimes in the presence of adequate conclusive
evidence by making changes in the section 376 of the IPC. Presently, this section prescribes a
fixed jail term (not less than seven years) which might be extended to life sentence.

It also envisages the completion of investigation in 7 days and trial in 14 days and also reduces
down the judgment time to 21 days from the existing 4 months.

Presently, in order to check harassment of women through social media or any other digital
medium we have sections of the IPC like 354C which deals with cases where a man, without the
consent of a woman, captures an image/video of her engaged in a private act. Such an act is
punishable by one to three years of imprisonment along with a fine, section 354D which covers
online stalking and prescribes a punishment of 3 years with fine for the same, section 503 which
makes a person liable for threatening to malign her reputation online and section 509 which
covers posting things which comprise of sexual insinuations .The new Disha law introduces
section 354E as well, which prescribes life imprisonment in cases of harassment of women
through social/digital media, the Act states 2 years’ imprisonment for first conviction and 4 years
for second as well as subsequent convictions. 

In order to cover sexual offences against children, the act introduces section 354F and 354G in
the IPC which make a person liable for life imprisonment in the aforementioned cases. Presently,
the POCSO acts regulates the crime against children but the punishment is imprisonment which
ranges between 3years and 7 years.

Under this bill, the Andhra Pradesh government will also maintain a ‘Women & Children
Offenders Registry’. This registry will be made public and will be available to law enforcement
agencies.

The state government will also establish exclusive special courts in each district to ensure speedy
trial. These courts will exclusively deal with cases of offences against women and children
including rape, sexual harassment, acid attacks social media harassment of women, stalking,
voyeurism and all cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

Keeping in mind the negligence of the police department in the Priyanka Reddy case, this bill
has a provision wherein the police will constitute special teams headed by the DSP which will
specifically investigate cases related to crimes against women and children.

After a nationwide public outrage with a constant demand for stringent laws in order to prevent
cases like these in the country, the Disha Bill was well received by the citizens. The introduction
of death penalty and establishment of special courts for rape crimes was long due and the new
bill fulfilled it. Swati Maliwal, the Chief of Delhi Commission for Women is now fasting in
order to get this bill implemented across the country. As far as justice for rape victims is
concerned, I believe that a statute like this was much needed. In the Priyanka Reddy case we saw
how the accused were denied the right to free and fair trial and were encountered due to the
public pressure. Rather than opting legally ambiguous procedures like encounters and going
against the principles of natural justice, it is better to provide justice with ways which have a
statutory validation. Although majorly apt, even this bill has some elements which bother me.
Starting with the provision of controlling the time of investigation and setting it at 7 days. This
measure may help in timely delivery of justice but can also lead to improper or flawed
investigation which might convict an innocent. Same goes for the reduction in the judgment time
period. Crime against women are appalling but at the same time we need to ensure that no one
takes undue advantage of these strict laws in order to fulfill their own personal interest, as was
observed in the recent case of Sarvjeet Singh Bedi. The bill also introduces a registry of sex
offenders which will be made public. My concern revolves around the fact that this registry
would be made public. I do realize the importance of making it accessible to the public as it
would help people in identifying such offenders around them, but at the same time we need to
understand that there are people who might change and take the right path after being made
criminally liable, but this measure is going to ruin their image for life and they might face a lot of
trauma both socially and professionally. This holds true only for people who were not involved
in heinous crimes. Like if someone was convicted for stalking a woman online and later he
realizes what he did was wrong, he might change as a person but this registry will scar him for
life.

People in general have a lot of expectation from this bill, the motive behind this bill is not to
prosecute more and more criminals but to prevent rapes by instilling a fear of strict punishments.
I hope that the concerns mentioned above are also taken into consideration and this law gets
implemented in the whole country and brings an improvement in the current state of rape crimes.

By:-

Sarvagya Verma

National Law University,Jodhpur