The Other Side Of Rape.

Treating the rapists..

Just the other day, my professor was telling us about a seminar he had attended once in Nirmala Niketan College of Home Sciences, Mumbai. A group of psychologists, counsellors and psychiatrists had gathered to conduct a seminar on how to treat the accused and prevent rape. What was different and interesting about this particular seminar was the fact that it gave a new outlook to the whole issue of rape. It focused on treating rapists psychologically. It got me thinking.

I am not saying that the accused can be tried as a mental patient and get away with the crime. What I am saying here is we can treat the accused psychologically. Merely imprisoning him is not enough. It will definitely bring justice to the victim but it will only put an end to one case. What about thousands of other rapists out there? We cannot see rape as one broad issue. It has many small branches and we need to treat each case differently. We need to dig deeper and try to understand the root causes of rape.

Pedophilia for example is considered a serious mental disorder. How can you only imprison such a man and expect him to behave normally after he has served time in jail!? He is mentally ill. He deserves to be imprisoned of course but is also in dire need of some psychological help!

According to Dr. Partha Gangopadhyay a trained psychiatrist from London, who is based in Scotland now “In the UK, an individual who has been convicted of serious sexual offences, including rape, would need to compulsorily participate in psychological programs in prison which are delivered by Forensic Psychologists within the Criminal Justice Services.”

The main causes of rape in India are unrequited love, sexual frustration and male chauvinism. So keeping that in mind, Individual/family and group therapy should be provided to the rapists with special training in anger management so that they can express anger in a socially accepted manner without hurting anyone. There is also a need for the offenders to learn the appropriate way of interacting with others. So, Social skills must be taught to them. Furthermore, role plays, group discussions, relaxation skills, stress management etc. are some of the techniques I think would go a long way in treating rapists and eventually eliminating rape.