From India to Iran: A close look at severe punishments for rape across the world!

New Delhi: There are certain rules and regulations in every society and all the people living in that society must abide them, this is how, many people live in a community. There are however some people who do not persist these rules and we address whose people as the criminals. In recent times, rape has become a crime of major concern across the world especially India. The history of rape is dated back to Greek mythology and the Roman civilization. Rape or sexual assault is not only limited to the forced sexual intercourse but also brutality. After many rape incidents including the horrific Nirbhaya rape case of December 16 in Delhi, the entire world was shocked to see the brutality of the rapists. Every country has different ways for punishing the rapists and here is a comparison of punishments for rape in India and other countries.

In India, before 2013, rape was not considered as major a crime to have stringent punishments. The maximum punishment was up to seven years of rigorous imprisonment. But, in April 2013, after the Anti Rape Bill was passed by Parliament, an act of rape is now liable to life imprisonment, imprisonment for the whole of life, and even death sentence for rarest of rare cases. Moreover, stringent punishments are there for convicts of acid attacks, rape, stalking and voyeurism.

In Saudi Arabia, public beheading is the capital punishment for murder, rape, drug trafficking, sodomy, armed robbery, apostasy and other offences. The punishment remains the same for both men and women if they commit any crime mentioned above. The condemned is usually taken to a public area by the police and forced to kneel facing Mecca. His name is then called so that he looks up and then his head his removed with a single stroke. The body and head is then picked and is handed over to a doctor who then sews both the parts together. The deceased's body is wrapped in the plastic sheet and taken away for burial in an unmarked grave at the prison

China is quite strict with the rapists too. The punishment of rape can be death penalty for aggravated rape incidents. In China, death sentence is given by a single bullet fired at the spinal cord joining the neck. Castration is also used for punishing rapists in most cases.

In most countries, the practice of death by firing squad has been stopped. However, North Korea feels no mercy regarding its criminals who have committed rapes. Therefore, the practicing of shooting squad, and firing bullet in head of a person, is still prevalent and in used till now in few states of North Korea.

Afghanistan has provision for capital punishment for rape. Since Afghanistan is a Muslim country and its laws are based on Islam, convict is shot with a bullet in the head within the four days.

Iran provides complete justice to the people who become a victim of sexual assault; Iran has execution for the rape culprits. Iran offers capital punishment for many crimes and among them 10 to 15% executions are of rape cases. The women sometimes settle down the cases by compensating; however the rappers are punished by 100 lashes and sometime of imprisonment in some cases.

In France, the punishment for rape is imprisonment. If a person is found to be guilty of rape, he is sentenced to an imprisonment of 15 years’. It extends to 20 years if the victim is under 15 years of age or other aggravating factors. If the sexual assault becomes the cause of the victim’s death, the convict will be imprisoned for a maximum period of 30 years. If the rape is followed by torture or any other physical harm, the felon is sent to the prison for the life time.

Many few countries offer death penalties for rapes; Egypt being one of them hangs the culprit to death. Few days ago, 10 men gang raped a woman and all of them got the death penalty.

In Israel, the rapist is liable to 16 years imprisonment.

USA There is no nationally accepted definition of rape in the United States; instead each state has its own laws. Though these definitions can vary considerably and most of them do not use the term rape any more, it is always referred to as "sexual assault", "criminal sexual conduct", "sexual abuse", "sexual battery", etc. Under federal law, the punishment for rape can range from a fine to life imprisonment. If the accused is a repeat offender, the law automatically doubles the maximum sentence.