Need for a Statute for Recognizing and Combating Prison Rape in India

The article envisages the need for acknowledging that prison rapes are common occurrence inside the prisons in India. Now and then, there are reporting by newspapers enlightening on the concealed cases of sexual violence in Indian prisons. Prison rape is inimical to the reformation of the prisoners. To understand the prison rape and its deleterious effects on the prison inmates and to prevent such crimes in the future, the State Governments need a proper framework to define, detect, punish and prevent such rapes. The article introduces an act cited as ‘The Protection of Prisoners from Rape Act, 2019’ to curb the prison rapes in India. The framework of an act describes the different roles to be played by the (projected) National Prison Rape Prevention, Detection and Reduction Commission to garner information about prison rape, detect and punish, and may likely reduce the cost of victimization. It is necessary that such an act be approved and promulgated by the State Governments for ameliorating the effects of prison rapes