Kopardi rape and murder: Ban Sairat, cut off limbs of rapists, say MLAs

The rape and murder of a minor at Kopardi in Ahmednagar saw elected representatives picking on a critically acclaimed Marathi movie which lays bare the social reality of caste and the honor killings which result from such inter-caste elopements. The state legislative assembly, which discussed the brutal gang-rape and murder of a 15-year old girl at the village also saw demands for punishments on lines of those in Middle Eastern countries wherein limbs of offenders are amputated.

The rape of the girl, which happened on July 13, has seen protests erupting across the state and three of the accused have been arrested. The crime also rocked the monsoon session of the state legislature which began on Monday.

BJP MLA from Dahisar, Manisha Choudhari demanded that movies like Sairat be banned and while referring to how the hands and feet of offenders were cut off in countries in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, demanded that a law be passed in Maharashtra to allow for similar punishments to rapists.

Choudhari said demanded a vigilance squad to crack down on couples engaged in vulgar acts at locations like beaches.

"It is necessary to change the law… once the crime is proved, then the hands and feet (of the accused) should be cut off and they must be hung later. There must be a sense of fear so that criminals do not come forward to commit such crimes," demanded Dr Sujit Minachekar from the Shiv Sena, who represents Ichalkaranji in the assembly.

Former minister and senior Congress MLA Balasaheb Thorat noted that women in the village were demanding that the accused be hung in public and admitted that they too agreed in their minds with this. Thorat who represents Sangamner noted that the question before everybody was how criminals could be served a deterrent and sought that the accused in the Kopardi case be sentenced to death.

Noting that Sairat had received a massive response in Maharashtra and had seen a turnover running into crores, the NCP's Bhaskar Jadhav said that the theme of the cinema--love between a Dalit boy and a girl belonging to the dominant, upper caste Maratha community—was creating fissures between various sections in society.

Stating that the alleged rapists had mutilated the teenage victim, Jadhav claimed that they seemed to harbor "a sense of revenge" in their minds.

Jadhav, a MLA from Guhagar, noted that after the release of the movie, messages on social media and messaging platforms fanned caste sentiments and questioned whether these issues led to such incidents.

Noting that local and elected representatives were portrayed as being "Dabang" and oppressive in movies and popular culture, Jadhav claimed Sairat was adapted from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and there were movies in Marathi and Hindi based around the theme. "The chasm in society needs to be reduced," he said.

"What is the root cause of this? After the Nirbhaya case, everybody spoke about the need for a stringent law to prevent such incidents… even today such incidents happen due to sharabkhanas (liquor vends)," stressed AIMIM MLA from Byculla, Waris Pathan. The accused were allegedly drunk while committing the crime.

"First shut down sharabkhanas," he demanded, seeking that prohibition be imposed in Maharashtra. While ribbing the BJP for the ban on beef, Pathan added that unlike drunks, there were no cases of beef eaters committing rape or knocking down people in accidents after eating the meat.

Pathan said a law on lines of Saudi Arabia and Dubai was necessary and added that there, incidents of rape happened but were few as perpetrators of such crimes were hung in public.

"The law will have to be strong, otherwise such incidents will become commonplace," said Pathan, adding that the provision of bail in rape cases needed to be done away with while introducing a time-bound trial.

Jiva Pandu Gavit (CPI-M) said such criminals be lashed in public and hung.