From castration to public humiliation: How Karnataka MLAs want rapists to be punished

As the Mysuru gangrape and Gadag's incident dominated the Karnataka Assembly this time, few MLAs in unison condemned and also demanded strict action against rapists. While some pitched death penalty, some wanted Telangana-type encounter. A woman MLA opined that death should not be the solution and suggested castration instead for lifelong humiliation.

As Karnataka government assured that it will do whatever to get death penalty to Mysuru gangrape accused, many MLAs placed their views in Assembly as well as outside.

Belagavi's Maratha dominated segment MLA Dr Anjali Nimbalkar was the first to vent her ire against the shameful incident, demanding castration instead of death.

Speaking to Asianet Newsable, Dr Nimbalkar said as a gynec expert, she knows what type of mental impact rape will leave on the victim and hence justified castration.

Death can just end them in a minute but the rapists deserve more punishment. Castration will remind them what they did and make them suffer everyday as they too will undergo that pain of the victim, opined Dr Nimbalkar.

Anglo Indian MLA Vinisha Nero had said that parents and society should only put a condition on women, sometimes even boys need to be locked at home. Going a step further she opined that she will put her views in black and white and also dash off letters to the National Commission for Women for exposing rapists' faces in public.

The face of rapists should be made public. Hoarding and billboards should show their face with details of the act they did. Even when the police are parading them, the face masks should be removed. The fear of shame and damage to the family image of accused and rapists can also bring down such incidents.

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Mysuru MLA Sa Ra Mahesh said that it's high time rapists are dealt with severe punishment and demanded encounters.

Referring to Telangana's 2019 incident in which Cyberabad police encountered four rapists at the crime spot, Mahesh said similar treatment is the need of the hour in Karnataka too.

MLA Roopa Sashidhar MLA from KFG opined that the mindset of society needs a change towards women. She said that women are not coming forward to register a complaint due to procedural delays and further shame. This issue needs to be addressed.

Proper sex education and also stricter implementation of legislation can contain such incidents she opined.

Echoing similar sentiments, BJP MLA Poornima Srinivas said that there needs to be gender neutrality as only women are targeted for wearing clothes of their choice.

From August 24 to September 13 two gangrape incidents were reported in Karnataka and netizens expressed their anger about the law and order situation and also about women's safety.