Why treat a Juvenile Rapist with Kid Gloves?

In the wake of the horrific Delhi gangrape case (of Nirbhaya or Damini, as the
unfortunate victim was addressed by different media channels), the debate over
what could be the most befitting punishment for such heinous crimes is still
raging. 

Today crimes against women, especially against young girl children, are rising alarmingly. This is because the law is seen as lax and its enforcement ineffective. On February 3, the Union Cabinet passed a new-look anti-rape ordnance. 

Source: India Today

I believe child rapists should be first castrated and then hanged. If the tardy
investigation and judicial processes in such cases can be speeded up, I am sure
such punishment will deter others from committing such dastardly crimes. 

Another dimension to the Delhi
Gangrape Case is that one of the accused has been declared a juvenile. At present, under the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, a
juvenile accused has to be kept in a juvenile correction home or any other reformatory
centre for minors. The juvenile faces a separate trial under the JJ Act and the
maximum sentence that can be given is only three years. Just three
years for exhibiting unparalleled moral depravity and indulging in such heinous crime!

On February 2, The Telegraph of Kolkata published an interesting opinion piece on juvenile crime by Sunanda Datta-Ray. Here's an excerpt:

When two
eight-year-old boys committed a gruesome murder in the northern English town of
Stockport 152 years ago, the coroner ruled that it isn’t the offender’s age but
his “strength of understanding and judgment” that establishes the true
“capacity to do evil or contract guilt”. By that yardstick, a youth aged 17
years, six months and 12 days must face up to the consequences of his action
like any adult. As the coroner pointed out, the two eight-year-olds who
tortured and drowned a two-year-old child on 11 April, 1861, were well aware of
the difference between right and wrong. By choosing a “secluded place” for
their “horrifyingly brutal” deed and by keeping quiet about it, they had proved
their “consciousness of guilt” beyond any doubt.

I believe that the Trial Court, which is hearing the Delhi
Gangrape Case, should consider the horrific criminal behavior exhibited by the
accused juvenile. Applying the same above principle (mentioned in the English
case) the court should rule that it isn’t the offender’s age but his “strength
of understanding and judgment” that establishes the true “capacity to do evil
or contract guilt”. In fact, this Delhi juvenile not only exhibited a true
capacity to do evil but himself is evil personified.

Come to think of it, under the current law this juvenile criminal may
walk free after serving just a few months behind bars; in jail he will turn an adult and imagine the serious
danger a criminal like him will pose to the society at large.

Today, it is fashionable to talk about changing the
attitude of a male chauvinist society like ours; trust me, it never will change
for good.

Haryana's Khap panchayat leaders call for lowering the marriageable age of girls to 15 years! Why? These elders say this move will force men to go to their wives for sex and hence they will not look elsewhere! 

These so-called keepers and upholders of our Bharatiya Sanskriti also say that eating Chinese food make men and women horny. Blaming foreign food for the moral depravity of their children is Hamari Mahaan Bharatiya Sanskrit for these elders.

And yes, we live in a society where religious leaders say
that a woman’s indecent clothes attract unwanted attention from men. I wonder
what such religious leaders have to say when a three-year old child is raped. 

Can we ever change this creepy and medieval attitude
toward women? Given the plumbing moral turpitude in our society, for once I cannot help being a pessimistic.