Calling for the death penalty for rapists has a longish history among politicians, going back to the time when L.K. Advani was Union minister for home. Two objections to this were most forcefully presented. It seems that the death penalty is not a deterrent for any crime anywhere. Besides, India allows capital punishment, but reluctantly. Conviction rates for rape are abysmal; capital punishment would lower them further. But capital punishment for rape that results in death was introduced by law after the Delhi gang rape on a bus in 2012, and now Parliament has amended the Prevention of Child Sex Offences Act to ensure life imprisonment or death for those who rape children under 12. Different states were passing laws to this effect even before the government's ordinance on the subject had turned into law, and Madhya Pradesh has sentenced five rapists of children to death, two of them on the same day.

Do stricter laws frighten criminals? The fact that reported rapes of children increased from 8,541 in 2012 to 19,765 in 2016 suggests a discouraging answer. It is possible that more rapes - of children and adults - are being reported, since there has been a 60 per cent increase in rape complaints between 2012 and 2016, with 40 per cent of these being child rapes. But the conviction rate remains at 25 per cent. Perhaps it is not the law alone, but other factors that need scrutiny. The attitude towards women, children and family that affects evidence-gathering maybe, or the politician-criminal nexus that allows the accused to get away. There is another thorny side to the issue. The director-general, prosecution of Madhya Pradesh, has reportedly said that those who rape children are usually alcoholics, substance abusers, pornography addicts and live in slums. Is that a safe assumption in a nation that boasts 51 legislators in Parliament and the assemblies with rape cases against them? In a country where child sexual abuse is known to begin most commonly within the home? Prejudice on this aspect of the matter, too, will blind evidence-gathering; it is necessary to tread with extreme care.