KOLKATA: She is one of the 15 young lawyers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes - analyzing and interpreting legal provisions that could be used to nail rapists and impose the maximum possible penalty on them.
Shwetasree Majumdar cherishes the experience with the JS Verma Commission report to help strengthen rape laws in the country. The 33-year-old Kolkata girl, now based in Bangalore, says she got passionately involved in framing the report as soon as she got a call from commission member Gopal Subramanium.
The National Law School graduate, who runs an intellectual property law firm, said working on the report took a lot from her emotionally and was one of the biggest challenges she has faced.
"It was very personal. Here was a chance to be part of a real, tangible comprehensive and legitimate exercise to bring change - it was imperative that the report be academically sound, just, fair and legally defensible. And when the civil society narratives started pouring in, many of which shaped how individual provisions in the law were ultimately crafted, it was hard to remain neutral and non-judgmental," she said.
"I felt shock, outrage and anger and every time I heard a narrative of systematic violence on women, children and the poor and I worked a little bit harder. I can say that I have not been this motivated and driven about any task in a very long time. I put my work, my family - everything on hold over these last few days," said Shwetasree, who worked for a fortnight on the report.
It was back to her law school days, burning the midnight oil and reading large volumes on comparative jurisprudence. "The high profile nature of the task meant we were under tremendous pressure. We were operating under strict rules of confidentiality and keeping our deliberations and work secret. We were also conscious that we could not let emotions cloud our sense of reason and approach each issue in a logical and balanced manner - not easy, given the recent events," said Shwetasree.
But in the end she was disappointed that the decision to turn down death penalty was all that got highlighted while none bothered to focus on the rationale for it. The team of lawyers and commission members did a good job, believes Shwetasree who worked on criminal law amendments, medical and psychiatric protocols.
"Taking a moral stand either way on the death penalty was the toughest challenge. On the one hand there was this overwhelming public outcry in its favour and on the other, there was voluminous literature and opinion on why it was not a deterrent. Whatever you chose you alienated someone and surely, as we expected, the rationale behind the decision was ignored," she said.
Personally, she isn't in favour of death penalty for rape since she doesn't believe that there is a link between death sentence and deterrence. A quick, effective and hard hitting punishment is far more important, she feels.
"Even if it could have a marginal deterrent effect, the effect could be felt only if you had high rates of execution, that were mandatory as well as being speedily enforced, which is fraught with its own problems. Also, in reality, although it is possible to award the death penalty for murder in 'rarest of rare' cases in India we are well aware that such cases are few and far between," she argued.
Shwetasree studied at St Teresa's Secondary School in Kidderpore before moving to Bangalore to study law. A regular visitor to Kolkata - her parents still live in their ancestral house in New Alipore - the lawyer said she was worried that free-thinking individuals were being suppressed by "misogynistic politicos" in the liberal city.
"When I first moved to Delhi and would listen wide-eyed to friends talking about the North Indian obsession with male children and was met with surprise whenever I said I was an only child and a girl, I felt proud. Some of my best friends from school were also only children and girls and not being boys was inconsequential," she said.
"The Kolkata I lived in was safe, it respected its women and Bengali women were known for their spirit and for being free thinkers. They still are. But what has changed is the environment in which they live in now. I hang my head in shame every time I read a misogynistic remark from a politician or any other person in a position of influence in Bengal. This is not the city I knew. And it disturbs me deeply," the lawyer sighed.
Backroom dilemma on rape law report
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Backroom dilemma on rape law report
