インド最高裁長官、レイプ事件被告に被害者との結婚勧める　辞任要求殺到

【ムンバイＡＦＰ＝時事】インド最高裁長官が、少女をレイプした罪に問われた被告に対し、収監を回避するには被害者と結婚すればよいとする発言をしていたことが明らかになり、同長官の辞任を求める声が上がっている。（写真は資料写真）
　アルビン・ボブデ長官は、政府機関勤務の技師である被告に対する審理で、「（被害少女と）結婚したいなら、われわれは力になれる。そうでなければ失職し、収監される」と述べた。
　この発言は怒りを招き、女性人権活動家らは長官の辞任を要求する書簡を公開。書簡には５２００人以上が署名した。
　この公開書簡によると、被告は少女の後をつけ、縛り上げて猿ぐつわをかませた上で繰り返しレイプに及んだとされる。その上で少女に対し、ガソリンをかけて火を付ける、兄弟の殺害を依頼するなどと脅したという。
　同書簡でボブデ氏は、「このレイプ犯に被害者との結婚を提案するとは、インド最高裁長官ともあろう人物が、被害者を自殺未遂に追い込んだ犯人から一生レイプを受け続ける人生を、被害者に強要しようとしたことになる」と非難を受けている。
　インドでは２０１２年、女子学生がバス車内で集団レイプを受けて殺害される事件が発生し、抗議活動が全国に広がった。以来、同国の凄惨（せいさん）な性暴力に対し、国際社会から厳しい目が向けられている。
　同国では被害者が、和解策と称して加害者との結婚を勧められるなど、警察や裁判所で性差別的な扱いを受けることも少なくない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/03/04-10:54）

India's top judge was facing calls to resign on Wednesday after telling an accused rapist to marry his schoolgirl victim to avoid jail.
More than 5,000 people have signed a petition demanding Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde quit after he told the government technician at a hearing: If you want to marry (her) we can help you. If not, you lose your job and go to jail.
Bobde's comments sparked a furore and prompted women's rights activists to circulate an open letter calling for his resignation that has secured more than 5,200 signatures, campaigner Vani Subramanian said.
According to the letter, the man is accused of stalking, tying up, gagging and repeatedly raping the girl before threatening to douse her in petrol, set her alight and have her brother killed.
By suggesting that this rapist marry the victim-survivor, you, the Chief Justice of India, sought to condemn the victim-survivor to a lifetime of rape at the hands of the tormentor who drove her to attempt suicide, the letter said.
India's abysmal record on sexual violence has been the focus of international attention since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus sparked nationwide protests.
Victims are regularly subjected to sexist treatment at the hands of police and courts, including being encouraged to marry their attackers in so-called compromise solutions.
The letter also drew attention to another hearing on Monday during which Bobde reportedly questioned whether sex between a married couple could ever be considered rape.
The husband may be a brutal man, but can you call the act of sexual intercourse between a lawfully wedded man and wife as rape? he said.
This comment not only legitimises any kind of sexual, physical and mental violence by the husband, but it normalises the torture that Indian women have been facing within marriages for years without any legal recourse, the letter by the rights campaigners said.
Marital rape is not a crime in India.
Bobde has not responded to the criticism. His predecessor Ranjan Gogoi was the highest-profile figure in India to face a #MeToo backlash after he was accused by a former staffer of sexual assault.
He was cleared in 2019 after an in-house inquiry, prompting protests in the country.