From Death to Dialogue: Integrating a Restorative Approach to Indian Rape Laws

In the wake of the recent incident of rape that happened at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, it is important to once again analyse the efficacy of the current rape legislations in India. It is undoubtedly true that steps have been taken time and again by the legislature to increase the punishment of rape and to widen the ambit of what constitutes rape. However, it is not clear as to whether such amendments in the current laws have led to any significant difference as the country continues to grapple with the issue. The present paper would therefore analyse the efficacy of the current legal framework that addresses the menace of rape in the country, analysing key metrics such as the crime-rate, the conviction-rate and the pendency- percentage. This shall be done to shed light on the efficacy of the current legislations and to point out their limitations and shortcomings. Secondly, the paper will evaluate the potential of restorative justice approach to overcome the limitations of the current system. For this, insights from the countries like New Zealand and Australia shall be drawn as they have already tested the implementation of restorative justice approach under their penal framework dealing with sexual offences. Thirdly, the study aims at suggesting integration framework for restorative and convention system. The paper shall test whether the current punitive system and the restorative justice approach may be bridged under the Indian legal framework to develop a more comprehensive and effective legal system that addresses both victim-participation and offender-accountability.