India has established its first register of sex offenders, after a spate of sexual assault and rape cases received global attention in recent months.

The database will contain the names, addresses, photographs and fingerprint details of up to 440,000 people who have been convicted of rape and sexual assault since 2005, according to the Indian home ministry.

This makes India the ninth country to introduce a national sex offender database, joining Ireland, whose register was launched in 2001.

Unlike the US, whose sex offender records are open to the public, the Indian National Database of Sexual Offenders will be accessible only to law enforcement agencies.

India has a notoriously poor record for sexual crime, with an average of 100 rape cases reported every day in 2017, according to the latest government data.

A Thomson Reuters Foundation survey from June 2018 found India to be the most dangerous country in the world for women.

The Indian judicial system has received widespread global criticism, with a dismal conviction rate for sexual violence and a backlog of pending cases. As reported in an Telegraph India editorial, almost 68 per cent of the country’s prisoners are undertrial. There’s a lack of support for survivors of sexual crime, and little effort made to rehabilitate offenders.

India’s so-called ‘rape epidemic’ continues to ravage the country.

Last week In northern India, police detained four male students for the gang rape of a female student in a boarding school, which left the girl pregnant. The principal of the school, along with four staff members, were arrested for attempting to cover up the crime.

Earlier this year, uproar ensued within and outside India following the rape and murder of a Muslim girl in a Hindu-dominated area of Jammu and Kashmir state.

It’s hoped the establishment of a national sex offenders register is a sign of an improved attitude to sexual violence from Indian authorities.

 

 

Image courtesy of Julie Johnson at Unsplash

Share This