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When most people think of rape, they visualize an unknown lunatic violently dragging a defenceless person into a dark alley. This is a very inaccurate portrayal. It has been found out that almost four out of five rapes are committed by attackers who knew or recognized their victims.

Despite reforms in the criminal law in 1995 which enhanced the punishment for sexual offences such as rape, gang rape, custodial rape and introduced new offences such as sexual harassment, incest and marital rape in circumstances of judicial separation, police statistics indicate a serious and widespread prevalence of rape in Sri Lanka. Look at the statistics: 1988 - 291 : 1991 - 371 : 1996 - 716 : 2001 - 1283 : 2003 - 1364.

Even after years of working on improving the system response to sexual assault, we still see that very few women report to authorities that they have been raped. Indeed, many women still tell no one.

And when they do tell, too often the system breaksdown and fails to find them justice. In this situation, the incidence of rape will be considerably higher than reflected in the Police statistics.

According to statistics most of the victims never see their attacker caught, tried, and imprisoned. Most of the prosecutions are either dismissed before trial or result in acquittal. One lawyer commented that a rape prosecution is more than twice as likely as a murder to be dismissed and 30% more likely to be dismissed than a robbery.

Conviction

When he was DIG, Chandra Fernando wrote an article titled 'Women and children as victims of crime - Sri Lankan perspective.' He says: "It has been noted from the cases taken to the courts that it is difficult to get a conviction as the prosecution has to prove the absence of consent on the part of the victim.

In many a case it has been noted during trial that the victim, more often than not, is treated as having given her consent and she is humiliated by character assassination by the defence.

This has been one of the factors that dissuades victims of rape from coming forward and reporting to the police for action to be taken against the offenders.

Additionally, the courts in Sri Lanka in the majority of the cases, call for independent evidence to corroborate the victim's version. Although the Sri Lanka Evidence Ordinance does not require a number of person to give corroborative evidence the courts insist on such evidence being produced".

"Another reason for the reported increase of rape cases is the greater awareness of the law on the part of the public and the enthusiasm shown by the women's organisations which provide free legal aid to victims and the assistance given to them at the relevant desk at police stations manned by women constables to receive complaints of rape.

The recent amendment to the Penal Code has increased the statutory age of consent from 12 years to 16 years. This may be a contributory factor to the reported increase in the number of rape cases."

Senior officers with experience of prosecuting rape cases have been calling for reforms to ensure a fair trial for victims, who they said were often intimidated by their treatment in court at the hands of defence lawyers.

These lawyers questioned them about their sexual history or irrelevant matters calculated only to discredit their evidence.

The irrelevant questions included details of women's clothes and underwear, their families, whether they had ever had an abortion and even about their menstrual cycle.

Time for action

It is time that rape victims get closer support from all concerned - the police, prosecutors and support service personnel. They should offer the highest level of service possible to alleged rape victims and witnesses, including regular updates about how their case is progressing and what will be expected of them at court.

They must ensure that police officers and prosecutors liaise closely about cases at the earliest opportunity, to make sure case files are as detailed as possible and to avoid later delays.

All rape cases must be dealt as quickly and as professionally as possible. The Police should arrange to allocate all rape cases to specialist lawyers who will be responsible for the case throughout. Finally, they must ensure to protect, whenever possible, the alleged victim from potentially offensive or irrelevant lines of questioning in court.

Rape cases are among the most serious and difficult that the police deals with, especially where the evidence is one person's word against another.

However, victims can be assured that they will vigorously pursue a prosecution for an offence of rape where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to proceed.

The police should also understand that giving evidence in court can be stressful and with the help of other agencies, they must assist victims throughout the process. Applications can be made to the court for 'Special Measures' to assist vulnerable and intimidated witnesses.

In spite of what anyone else thinks, rape is still a serious crime. It is time that we stop punishing the victims and instead give them the emotional support they so badly need.

The only way we can end this gross miscarriage of justice where rape victims are concerned is providing a clearer legal framework for the courts as they decide on the facts in each case. We also need more and more women speak out against this act. We have to form a support unit instead of tearing the poor victims to pieces.

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