Regularly, incidents of rape from different parts of the country, appear in newspapers, some news is shocking. Father raping a daughter, a son raping a mother and children being raped are the most distressing incidents reported in the newspapers. One could imagine to what degrading levels, certain individuals could descend. These incidents of rape reported in the newspapers are a clear reflection on the rapid increase of rape in the country.

These particulars in the newspapers indicate only the recorded offences. How many more cases of rape would have gone unnoticed due to various constraints. Publicity, social stigma, threats and intimidation, ignorance, poverty and the trauma of a protracted trial and cross examination by the defence are causes for silent suffering, without making a complaint to the police.

In the present context in the country, fair percentage of parents are employed and children have to be on their own, till parents return from work. A large number of females who are married and have young children go to the Middle East countries for employment. A large number females from remote rural areas are employed in urban environments, and get boarded. Some have to work on shifts and return late after work.

I remember a case of rape in 1992. An employee in a garment factory in Moratuwa, went to the Angulana beach with her fiance, a Security officer, employed in the same institution. After some time, two youth came up to them, kept a razor blade on the neck of the security officer, assaulted and chased him away. These two persons forcibly took her to a small hut in the beach and raped her. Even though an entry was lodged in the police station, the assailants could not be identified and the culprits got away scot free. The girl developed suicidal tendencies, but the management advised and consoled her and handed her over to her parents at Matugama. The Security Officer left his job and went to his home in Anuradhapura. The girl lost both her virginity and fiance as well. In Australia such cases are handed over to a crisis centre, where trained social workers take over such victims.

Some gruesome incidents have taken place in the recent past. Makandara rape and murders took place due to a dispute in regard to a property, Rita John, was raped and killed when she was walking with her husband. Recently a school girl returning home on a lonely road was raped and killed, about a month ago, a girl employed in a garment factory in Katana went to the Negombo hospital for treatment. She was taken to a room in the Sixth floor of the hospital and raped and murdered by a Medical Officer, an internee working in the same hospital.

Considering the increase in incidence of rape in the country and with the objective of protecting females, the Government should entrust to the Ministry of Justice, to study the punitive aspect to consider whether the punishment meted out to those found guilty of rape at present is an adequate deterrent to reduce the incidents of this heinous crime and protect the innocent citizens from such criminals. The government should adopt certain strategies to curb this social menace to ensure the safety and the modesty of the females.

In prisons, even though those convicted for murder are eligible to qualify for selection and transfer to an open prison camp, depending on their good behavior and responses in the prisons. More privileges and enhanced remission, for those convicted for rape are not considered for a transfer to an open prison camp. The prison administration is concerned about the community living in close proximity to the prison.

Nevertheless there was that unique case, when a prisoner convicted for rape was granted an amnesty in the late nineteen seventies, and appointed a JP. Later he was found responsible for syphoning petrol from a pipe connected to the Kolonnawa tanks of the Petroleum Corporation. Incidents of this nature should never happen again.

Corporal punishment is carried out in the prisons if mentioned in the court orders apart from the prison sentence. There are tripods in the Prison and officers trained to came with a rattan specified by the courts. The Medical Officer has to certify that the prisoner is fit to go through the punishment. The prisoner is tied to the Tripod and the small part of the back is padded to prevent any injury to the spiral column. The Medical Officer, the Superintendent and the Chief Jailor are present when corporal punishment is given. The offender is cained on the buttocks.

At this juncture, when society has to be protected from sex maniacs, perverts and sadists and especially assaults on children, the Ministry of Justice should review the legislation and punishment for such heinous crimes and consider quick and speedy disposal of justice. Longer terms of imprisonment together with caning with a rattan should be mandatory for such offence. There should be adequate punishment to safeguard the aggrieved party, the victims of rape, witnesses of certain sensitive cases should be recorded in camera. The stress and trauma of a victim of rape will remain tight through her life.

Professor Sydney in his medical treatise has explained, "the once the virginity of a female is lost, it cannot be repaired."