Abstract
Anvita Dutt’s ‘Bulbul’ has been hailed by many as a marvel of modern horror. It follows the woeful tale of a young girl, Bulbul, who, upon being subjected to heavy physical and sexual abuse, undergoes a supernatural transformation and exacts revenge upon the abusive men of her village. With the movie attaining its driving force in the cathartic idea of a raped woman going after her abusers, it can barely be lauded as a feministic approach to folklore, but merely the latest addition to the long list of rape-revenge dramas. In this article, the author, drawing parallels with ‘Bulbul’, deciphers the innate patriarchy in subjecting a rapist to capital punishment. To accomplish this, the author explains the jurisprudence behind imposing the death penalty on a rapist and its implicit connection with a woman’s right to her physical self. Moreover, the author does not merely study the aforementioned aspect in the context of stereotypes of rape and women, but also in the context of the pyramidical model of sexual violence and victimology. The author has also cited a catena of cases to decrypt the Indian judiciary’s undesirable trend of equating rape with murder.
1. Introduction
It is indeed cathartic to witness an innocent woman, subjected to sexual abuse by predatory men, transform into a femme fatale, aiming at exacting revenge upon her abusers. Anvita Dutt’s ‘Bulbul’ follows a similar premise but with a creative twist to urban folklore involving the ‘chudail’. Tripti Dimri delivers a bone-chilling performance in portraying a vulnerable child blossoming into a dominating and independent woman. Despite its merits, however, the film was not without flaws. The use of ‘rape’ as a death blow to Bulbul’s innocent self is neither new to cinema nor desirable. The protagonist’s murderous ways reaffirm the quote that ‘rape is a fate worse than death’ and therefore, rapists must essentially be subjected to capital punishment. However, the roots behind the imposition of the death penalty on rapists are based on stereotypical notions of ‘honour’ and ‘chastity’, which not only deprive women of independent autonomy and the victim of rape the right to get back into the thick of things, but also deny justice to women who do not conform with the notions of the ‘ideal rape victim’.
2. The Use of ‘Rape’ as a Plot Device
The viewer witnesses the movie’s protagonist, Bulbul, being subjected to a string of sorrows. Upon becoming aware of his wife’s romantic interest in his younger brother, Thakur Moshai, equipping himself with a blunt metal stick, showers a string of deleterious blows on Bulbul’s feet, crippling her. She lays on the floor, writhing in pain, to the point that she passes out. The next morning, she discovers that her feet, soaked in blood, have been strung up with rolls of bandage.. Bulbul’s state appears painful enough for the viewer to enter the protagonist’s shoes and get a taste of her plight. However, next up, Thakur Moshai’s mentally-ill brother, Mahendra, enters the room and in his deranged state, rapes Bulbul to the point that she succumbs to her injuries. A few moments later, the viewer watches the reel skies turn blood red and catches a glimpse of the ferocious Goddess Kaali before witnessing Bulbul rise with a powerful scream, thereby marking a profound transformation. The rape scene, coupled with the one involving Bulbul’s transformation may be relevant in acting as the final nail in the coffin for Bulbul’s miseries, but was uncalled for. While Thakur Moshai’s blows may have rendered Bulbul crippled for a lifetime, it is only when she is raped by his brother that she transforms into a ‘Devi’. The movie, therefore, is the latest addition to the long line of Bollywood movies featuring rape victims to either be scarred for life, turn psychotic or transform into supernatural beings.
3. Painting the Image of an ‘Ideal Rape Victim’
India has, over the past few decades, witnessed a catena of legislative reforms across the arenas of rape and sexual harassment. From shifting the burden of proof on the accused in cases falling under Section 376 and expanding the restrictive peno-vaginal definition of rape, to imposing capital punishment upon the convict under certain conditions, India appears adept in counteracting rape and similar crimes on paper. However, despite such reforms, the Indian judiciary appears to be lagging. While the judgements passed are mostly victim-friendly, the jurisprudence upon which such judgements are based, appears problematic on several grounds. Consider the 1983 case of Bharwada Bhoginbhai Hirjibhai v. State of Gujarat, wherein the Supreme Court explained why the testimony of an ‘Indian woman’, as opposed to that of a ‘Westernized woman’, is supposed to be given weightage. The aforementioned judgement was a byproduct of the age-old ‘honour and chastity’ notion, which was based on the idea that a woman would attempt to protect her ‘chastity’ or ‘purity’ at all times. While this judgement happens to be decades old, there has been a string of judgments ever since which have painted the image of an ‘ideal rape victim’. The Supreme Court, in Shyam Narain v. The State NCT of Delhi airing its views on the gravity of the offence of rape, commented that the victim, an innocent 8-year-old, was left scarred for life and would routinely be haunted by the memory of the incident. In a case as recent as 2020, the Karnataka High Court granted anticipatory bail to the accused on the ground that the victim had not appeared ‘devastated’ and went on to label the modus operandi of the victim as ‘unbecoming of Indian women’. The growing strictness in the laws of rape and sexual harassment, therefore, appears to stem from the idea that rape degrades the very soul of the so-called ‘helpless’ female clanand therefore, is a fate ‘worse than death’.
4. The Implications of the ‘Rape is Worse than Death Notion’
As explained above, the Indian judiciary has, on numerous occasions, portrayed a pitiful image of victims of rape, by labelling them as ‘broken souls’, whose lives are ruined. While the seriousness of the crime of rape can in no way be doubted, equating it with ‘murder’ seems absurd and deleterious, not only for the accused and victim but for society in general. The ‘honour and chastity’ notion germinated from the idea that a woman was the property of her husband and therefore, is supposed to adopt a sexual relationship only with her husband and no one. This, in turn, led to the belief that a woman who was raped was robbed of her dignity for a lifetime and was bound to live through a tale of ostracism and social stigma. The absurdity of generalising such a belief can therefore be decoded by studying the roots of such stereotypical notions. Imposing rigid penalties for rapists, therefore, reinforces the patriarchal mindset that robbing a woman of her chastity, which she holds to be of paramount importance, is one of the most serious crimes and must be dealt with via capital punishment.
Except for producing a disproportionally heavy sentence for the offender, such stereotypical notions do no good to the victim They publicise the idea that the road for a victim of rape is dark and depressing and she is rendered devoid of a meaningful and dignified life. Not only have there been cases where victims have not conformed to the ‘ideal rape victim’ image, but also accounts of victims dismissing the ‘rape is worse than death’ notion. Throughout a paper entitled ‘The Making of a High Profile Rape Trial’, authors Audrey D’Mello and Flavia Agnes argue that the victim of the Shakti Mills gangrape case wanted to live, despite being subjected to the so-called fate ‘worse than death’. Such an instance, as per the authors, exposed the falsity in the idea that there was nothing left for victims of rape to live for. Suzette Jordon, another gang rape survivor, commented on the fact that contrary to people’s expectations, she wanted to live and deserved the right to be happy.
5. Additional Implications of the Persistence of Rape Stereotypes
While it may seem festive when high-profile rape trials end with the rapists being awarded the death penalty, the persistence of such stereotypy dismisses women who do not conform to the image of the ‘ideal rape victim’, as painted by the Indian judiciary, time and again. In Raja v State of Karnataka, the Supreme Court, commenting upon the decisiveness of the victim’s testimony in holding the accused liable, held that the victim’s conduct did not conform with that of a “terrified and anguished victim”. The victim’s conduct in the aftermath of the incident involved wandering about the place of the incident, inquiring of the accused persons and in general, walking confidently as opposed to appearing “devastated”. Such conduct was, however, written off by the Court as bolstered by deprivation or something desired.
Similarly, the amount of resistance offered by the victim has also been taken into consideration in determining the truth in the case of the prosecution. After all, if rape has been deemed to be an act worse than murder, it is expected that the victim must have attempted at resisting the act to the full of her capabilities. In Mahmood Farooqui v. State, the victim had claimed in her testimony that upon being subjected to rape, she did not offer much resistance and feigned an orgasm with the sole purpose of averting more serious harm by the accused. However, the Court, disregarding this fact , held that the feebleness of the reluctance offered by the victim, coupled with a lack of resistance, cast a serious doubt on her testimony. Thus, not only is a woman expected to offer the highest degree of resistance but is also expected to state a staunch “no” in clear and unequivocal terms. Such observations are a marred blot upon a woman’s autonomy over her physical self and are implicit with misogyny, stereotypy and conservatism.
6. A Prevalent Rape Rhetoric: Addressing the Elephant in the Room
A rather satisfying scene of the movie showcases a young girl child sharing a bathtub with a much older male, who is portrayed as predatory and poised to sexually abuse her. However, within the nick of time, Bulbul, as Goddess Kali, appears from behind and devours the paedophile. Upon his demise, the camera cuts to Bulbul embracing the young child as a motherly figure, thereby paying homage to the Goddess’s purpose of vanquishing all evil and protecting the innocent. The death penalty, as a form of deterrence, is still a desirable form of punishment and in a country like India, it is not feasible to abolish the death penalty completely. However, despite the death penalty being introduced for rape under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, the number of rapes being committed has only risen. As per the data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (“NCRB”), one rape is committed every 16 minutes which, in turn, implies that approximately 100 rapes are committed every day. It is, therefore, high time that the draftsmen realisethat a mere increase in the punishment on paper is not sufficient in curbing the menace of the rape problem in India. The underlying issue that needs to be addressed, rather, is what provokes persons to transform into sexual offenders. As much as it may appeal to the conscience to brand rapists as ‘monsters’, the uncomfortable truth is that we, as a society, bolster individuals to turn rapists.
6.1. Deterrence and the Death Penalty: A Disproportionate Relationship
In the wake of a steep rise in the number of rapes across the country in the past decade, women-right and child-right activists have routinely argued in favour of imposition of the death penalty on rapists. Their argument is further bolstered by the fact that in the majority of the cases, the rapist is known to the victim, which may significantly affect the number of cases being reported. The primary justification given by people supporting the continuance of the death penalty is that of ‘deterrence’, i.e., it shall deter like-minded criminals in engaging in such heinous offences. However, the imposition of punishments such as life imprisonment extending up to the natural life of the convict may provide an equally deterrent effect and at significantly lower costs. Moreover, the myth surrounding the impact of the death penalty on the reduction of crimes has majorly been busted. In order to accomplish a paper entitled ‘The Death Penalty: No Evidence for Deterrence’, Justin Walfers and John Donnohue carried out a series of empirical studies to decipher the impact of the death penalty on crime rates. After a detailed analysis, the authors not only concluded that executing one criminal may save a catena of lives is not credible enough, but also that the death penalty actually increases the number of homicidal crimes.
In another study, Dr. Jeffrey Fagan, through his article ‘Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law’, brings out a series of errors in recent deterrence studies. These errors include missing variables and incorrect empirical analysis that is indispensable for bringing out the complete picture of the crime rate of a particular area. According to Fagan, such error-ridden studies have created major dents in the argument that the death penalty is able to exert a deterrent effect on potential criminals.
6.2. The Latent Inequality in Death Penalty
While it may be cathartic to witness a rapist being sent to the gallows, the fact of the matter is that death penalty endows the State with the liberty to kill alomost arbitrarily. It was found, as per a report by Project 39A, that in the majority of the cases, executed convicts were poor and belonged to oppressed sections of the society. There are several reasons for this, with the most obvious one being that- the more financially sound an accused is, the easier it is for him to afford a high-profile defence counsel. A classic example is when the convict who was a security guard and involved in the case of Dhananjoy Chaterjee v State Of West Bengal was hanged for the rape and murder of a minor girl whereas a murder convict and a former Youth Congress President was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. Moreover, with the majority of rapes not being reported, imposition of capital punishment has proven to be a tool for the state to discriminate against the poor rather than being a deterrent.
7. Potential Solutions
It is pertinent to not let one’s anger drive one to commit something irreversible. As explained above, equating rape with murder does not merely rob women of autonomy over their bodies, but also means disregarding the fact that rapists are not born but are created within excessively patriarchal homes Further, while capital punishment conjure a sense of retributive justice within the victim and society, it is seldom offers any rehabilitative value. In conclusion, therefore, the State must, rather than focusing on sending rapists to the gallows, facilitate the establishment of proper recuperative techniques and centres to help traumatized victims get back to normalcy Further, recognizing that rape and sexual harassment occur across a pyramid, with society being equally responsible, if not more, for bolstering such crimes, there must be gender sensitization programs and reforms carried out in the educational system, to eliminate the stereotypes about rape at the grassroots level itself. Finally, to truly curb the growing menace of rape in the country, it is indispensable that the reporting and trying of rape and sexual harassment are made more victim-friendly. This may involve proper training programs for judicial officers, medical personnel and the police.
8. Conclusion
Subjecting the rapist to the death penalty derives strength from the age-old notions of ‘honour’ and ‘chastity’. This is bolstered by the fact that to date, rape is a gendered offence in India. The laws of rape, therefore, appear to be rooted in the protectionist model of equality, which reinforces the notion that women are subordinate, weak, modest and require a powerful layer of protection. Further, it has been proven through a plethora of empirical studies that capital punishment does not create a deterrent effect on potential criminals. Moreover, carceral punishment does nothing to alleviate a traumatized rape victim and is merely a tool to execute rapists branded as ‘monsters’, which, in the majority of the cases, end up being people belonging to marginalised sections of society. It is, therefore, high time that the lawmakers turned to the ‘corrective model of equality’ to help eliminate rape stereotypes and instil a true sense of equality towards women in the society for the holistic and sustainable social progress.
This article is a part of the DNLU-SLJ (Online) series, for submissions click here.
Author
Student, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab
