Is punishment enough to stop child rape?

"The true character of society is revealed in how it treats its children"

 – Nelson Mandela.

Bangladesh earned the eligibility for being a developing nation last year after becoming a lower middle-income nation in 2015. One of the biggest achievements is that in 2018, Bangladesh emerged as the second-most gender equal country in Asia and first in South Asia. It took the 47th place on the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum based on economic, education, health and political opportunities.

Despite these successes, our girls are not safe yet. Leaving aside all the statistical data of previous years, only between January and October this year, at least 902 incidents of child rape have been reported, according to Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum, an NGO working for child rights.

The penalty for rape in Bangladesh is life imprisonment in line with the Prevention of Repression of Women and Children Act 2000. Convicts may also face capital punishment in case their victims die.

Whenever a child rapist gets punished we feel happy; we convince ourselves that society is going to be free from that monster. Is it really so?

Sadia Sultana Trisha, a student of class four in Gaibandha, died in 2002 after jumping into a pond to save herself from an imminent gang rape by Mehedi Hasan Modern and his two cohorts. Despite serving 14 years in prison, Modern has been arrested again recently for allegedly raping a grade-six school girl in the same district.

So, this question arises – will a child sex abuser commit the same crime after serving the punishment under our law?

Secondly, and more importantly, it should be a matter of concern whether reformative approach was appropriately taken during the punishment.

To know the answers, we must understand the term paedophilia, which is often described as a mental disorder, for which a person sexually abuses a child. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R) of the American Psychiatric Association, the essential feature of this disorder is recurrent and intense sexual urges and sexually arousing fantasies involving sexual activities with prepubescent children. Here it has been classified as one of the psycho-sexual disorders. Those suffering from paedophilia are different from other sexual abusers. Webster's New World Dictionary describes a child molester as simply an individual who engages in illegal sexual activities with children. It can be apprehended from the definitions that a child rapist is not essentially a paedophile with psycho-sexual disorder.

The criminal justice system of Bangladesh does not distinguish sexual offenders, and as a result, people with sexual disorders like paedophilia do not get any psychological treatment during punishment or remain under surveillance as part of any reformative punitive approach.

Our South Asian neighbour the Maldives has taken an exemplary approach towards child sex abusers. The Special Provisions Act to Deal with Child Sex Abuse Offenders 2009 of the country states that the State shall monitor and manage child sex offenders in a continued manner, even after they serve severe punishment.

Considering the recent incident in Giabandha, it is high time we also focused on reformative punishment approach to stop recurrence of child rape.