The Delhi High Court, in a recent order, reduced the punishment awarded to a rapist on the grounds that his crime did not merit maximum punishment because it was not accompanied by brutality. The accused, a tutor, had raped his minor student. “Brutality at the time of rape has to be factored in. If the rape is accompanied by acts of brutality, higher sentence should be imposed,” the bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Suresh Kait observed, and reduced the punishment from life imprisonment to 10 years.

The question, however, arises whether the courts should make such a distinction between cases of rape and scale down the deterrence permissible under law. Should rape be classified as brutal and non-brutal on the basis of additional violence involved? Isn't rape itself an act of brutality?